Based on Faith
by Silver Crimsonthorn
Summary: Adjustment to major changes can be hard, but it becomes even more difficult when the change taking place is unwelcome. Monsters are finding that to be all too true. But friendship and understanding can come from unexpected places. But when that place is a human, how do you know that the friendship and understanding are genuine? Time to take things on faith. NEW TUMBLR! SEE INSIDE!
1. Friends

She sighed as she flicked the last of the egg shells off the siding of her house. ' _Now if getting the spray paint and such was as easy...damn.'_ She picked up the bucket near her feet and glared at the overused sponge in the citrusy smelling water.

"Gonna have to go get a new one of these...what a bother."

"A new one of what?"

Lorilai shrieked and flailed at the sudden soft inquiry that came from behind her and peered warily over her shoulder, smiling meekly at her friend from behind a vivid blush. "Hey Blooks."

"Oh noooo, I didn't mean to scare you...I should just go…"

Lori turned and jogged a few short steps to stand in front of the small ghost with her arms crossed. "Blookie, what have I told you about that? You don't have to leave when you accidentally scare me like that. You just gotta warn me when you're planning on coming over."

Napstablook stared at her for a moment before fumbling with his phone for a moment and holding it up for her to see.

Lorilai read the screen quickly before pulling out her own phone and glaring at the screen. "I didn't pay over half a grand for you just to have you refuse to ring randomly, you piece of shit. Sorry, Blooks."

He shrugged lightly and moved towards the bucket. "It's ok...what happened?"

Lori scowled at the side of her house and gestured towards the paint. "Some of the stupid fuckers in this town decided that 'witch' wasn't a good enough slur for me anymore and didn't like that I had removed the beautiful mural they _ever so graciously_ painted for me last time." Her friend frowned at the words scrawled in an angry hand large enough to reach the roof of her porch.

"I...do you want me to call a friend for some help? Oh, you probably have it under control though...sorry if I'm bothering you…"

Lori arched an eyebrow. "You mean that you have friends that would be willing to come help?"

He nodded. "Yeah, uh...I think so. I could ask them if you wanted."

Lori smiled and nodded. "If you could, that would be a big help."

0-0-0-0-0

One text and a short wait later, a black SUV pulled to a stop in her driveway, and several monsters she didn't recognize stepped out of the car, wincing when they noticed the graffiti.

"'Monster fucker, huh? The nerve of some humans…"

"I-I'm sure the h-human can't c-control the actions of other humans, Undyne."

"INDEED, UNDYNE! IF SHE IS FRIENDS WITH NAPSTABLOOK, THEN SURELY SHE CANNOT BE ALL BAD!"

Lorilai waved. "Nice to meet you all, despite the circumstances. Thanks for coming to help out, really. It means a lot to me. I'm Lorilai Eidolon."

"Undyne."

"I'm A-Alphys."

"AND NATURALLY, I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT IS A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU, LORILAI EIDOLON."

She blinked at Papyrus' formal language. "Please, just call me Lori. All my friends do."

He nodded. "WE HAVE BROUGHT NEW SPONGES AS YOU HAVE ASKED. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE US TO DO WITH THEM, HU-LORI?"

She smiled. "Actually, if you just wanted to break them out of the package, we could have this scrubbed off and whatnot in no time. Would you all mind staying for dinner as payment terribly? I only have enough cash to cover the cost of the new sponges."

Undyne looked at her funnily. "You...want us to stay for dinner as payment?"

Lori blushed. "Well, I'm actually not that bad at cooking, and I have to thank you all and repay you for your help somehow, right?"

Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus exchanged looks, and then looked at Blooky questioningly, only receiving a shrug in response. Papyrus was the first to turn his attention to Lori again, giving her a smile. "WELL, IF YOU REALLY INSIST, WE COULD STAY."

0-0-0-0-0

Both the cleanup and dinner went smoothly, and Lori smiled as she walked her new friends to their vehicle. "It's been a pleasure. Thanks for all the help, guys!"

"CERTAINLY, HUMAN! IT WAS NO PROBLEM. YOU REALLY MUST TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE THAT TASTY DISH SOMETIME!"

"I'll admit, nerd, that was pretty good food. Next time we stay for dinner, it had better not be for payment, or I'm gonna have to hunt those assholes down and teach them a _lesson._ "

"U-Undyne, really, y-you're going to scare the human!"

Lori rubbed the back of her neck and grimaced. "While I really wouldn't mind that, I don't think the town needs another reason to hate monsters or myself even more than they already do."

Undyne paused and nodded thoughtfully. "You may be right about that. Anyway, later nerd!"

Lori laughed, and waved as they pulled out of the drive and were safely on their way down the road. Nodding in satisfaction at their safe departure, she walked back inside and looked at her remaining friend. "Called MTT yet?"

"O-oh...yeah. He said he would be here soon to pick me up."

"Good. I don't want you walking home this late, incorporeal or not."

A car horn sounded outside and Lori peeked out the drapes on her front window. "He's here, Blooks. Lemme walk you out."

She saw her friend into his cousin's car and repeated the process of making sure that he was on his way home safely before heading back into her home, locking the door behind her. She made her way to the sliding glass door that opened to her back yard and looked up. ' _What a beautiful full moon.'_

She let her cardigan fall from her shoulders and slipped out of the rest of her clothes before unhooking the latch on the door and stepping outside into the moonlight within the safety of her privacy fence. She smiled as the light reflected off of her pale skin and filled her eyes, soothing her being.

It took her little time to adjust, and she made her way to the small marble table in her yard and began her practice.

 **AN: stupid short, I know. They'll get longer. This is mostly an introductory thing. Do forgive. See you all next time!**


	2. Sun Salutations

Chapter One

Sans sighed and glanced at the clock on his phone. His brother was a stickler for punctuality, so being ten minutes late was incredibly odd for him. But ten minutes late was indeed what his brother was right now, and he was starting to get concerned.

[bro, everything ok?]

He slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket and leaned against the wall. ' _if paps isn't out here in five minutes, i'm going in_ '

Sans looked towards the door as he heard his brother's voice. ' _good_. _but who is he talking to?'_ Papyrus and his conversation partner rounded the corner as they walked out the door, and sans stiffened. ' _a human in a yoga class taught by and for monsters?'_

"AH, YES. HUMAN, THIS IS MY BROTHER, SANS. FORGIVE MY TARDINESS, BROTHER, THE HUMAN AND I WERE SPEAKING WITH THE INSTRUCTOR FOR A MOMENT AND LOST TRACK OF TIME."

Lori blinked and looked at the smaller skeleton, sizing him up for a moment before smiling. "So you're the brother I keep hearing about? Cool."

Sans stiffened a bit and forced a smile. "yeah, you could say 'm pretty... _chill?_ so you're the new friend paps keeps talking about?"

"Probably." A noncommittal shrug, despite cutting off Papyrus. "Paps does sure seem to make a hell of a lot of friends though, so that might not be accurate."

"how does a human get into a monsters yoga class?"

"I asked? And paid the fee, of course. For Paps too, even, so that may have helped my case."

"oh?"

"Plus, I helped tutor the instructor's kid for a while. And I helped her out with her garden. Things apparently don't grow quite the same here as they did underground. Not much of a surprise there, really."

"welp, you're the helpful one, ain'tchya, kid?"

Another shrug. "I do what I can, yeah. Hey Paps, you hungry? Sorry I'd cut you off. "

"IT IS NO PROBLEM, HUMAN. I SUPPOSE I COULD EAT SOMETHING. WHY? ARE YOU HUNGRY? OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO TEACH ME HOW TO MAKE SOMETHING?"

Lori laughed and shook her head. "Nah, not right now. I'm too hungry to wait to eat. I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to stop by Muffet's with me. You and your brother maybe? My treat."

"eh, i can tag along if paps wants to go, but i had something from grillby's not too long ago"

Lori looked at Papyrus and pouted playfully. "We can stop at the store to pick up what I would need to teach you how to make something new for dinner afterwards?"

Papyrus didn't have anything further to consider after that remark. "COME ALONG BROTHER, LET US FOLLOW THE HUMAN TO THE CAFE AND THEN GO TO HER PLACE FOR SUPPER."

Sans forced a smile. "yeah, ok paps"

0-0-0-0-0

"Papyrus, dear, would you go get that out of the oven? Don't forget to use oven mitts this time!"

Lori turned to Sans once she was sure that Papyrus was using mitts and smiled softly at him. "'Sup?"

He looked at her for a moment before smirking slightly. "ceiling, of course"

She rolled her eyes. "The sky is even more 'up' than that. So is space. Smart ass." His perpetual smile fell some at getting less of a reaction than he was expecting.

"HUMAN, IS IT _SUPPOSED_ TO BE BROWN NOW?"

"Golden brown to tan, yeah. Give it a bit to let the sauce thicken."

She paused for a moment before heading towards the dining room and the sliding glass door to her back yard. "Say, would you two like to eat out on the patio?"

"CERTAINLY, HUMAN! WOULD YOU LIKE FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS TO TAKE THE DISH OUT TO THE TABLE?"

"Nah, lemme go out and light the candles I have out there and give it a bit. We still have to make the salad, right? Just keep the potatoes and such covered, and I'll help you with the salad when I get back in. Would you get out a few of the big mixing bowls while I'm outside?"

Papyrus set to work as she slipped outside to light the citronella candles to ward off the abundance of mosquitoes that came with the muggy weather during this time of year. It wasn't so bad right now, especially not in the shade that her home provided on the patio, but the mosquitoes were still more than happy to flock to her for their meal.

She glanced over at the pot at the edge of her patio, still in the last rays of sun that would peek over her roof until the next day. "Having fun?"

"Humph. I'll admit that the sun is nice, and so is your compost, and so is the break from my idiots, but I wouldn't exactly say that sitting around outside on your patio is _fun_ , you moron."

"Glad to see you're feeling better, Ass-riel."

The small flower glared daggers at her. "Frick you."

She snorted with laughter as she continued lighting candles and the like. "Still too intimidated by Toriel to legitimately swear? She isn't even here yet, _Puddin' Pop_."

She perked up at the sound of someone pulling into her driveway. "I may stand corrected." Toriel calling after Frisk telling them to slow down only confirmed her suspicions.

The gate to her yard creaked open and she smiled at the small child barreling towards her, then at the motherly monster walking quickly behind. "Yo Tori. How's the kid been?"

"Asking after Flowey all week." The tall goat monster brought Lori into a firm hug.

"Well, I think it may have just been a nitrogen deficiency in his soil. He was starting to get a titch too big for his pot too, so I replanted him with some nice compost mixed into the soil and such. I've been letting him get his tan on, and he's perked up quite a bit. Quite a lot, actually. Look at his stem!"

Frisk glanced over and clapped in excitement, pointing wildly before signing rapidly to Toriel.

"Why, you're right, my child! Flowey _has_ sprouted leaves."

Papyrus peeked his head out the back door and gasped. "HUMAN! WHY DID YOU NOT TELL US THAT THE QUEEN HAD ARRIVED WITH THE SMALLER HUMAN? And that you had that annoying houseplant in your possession…"

Lori grinned at his after thought and shrugged. "I knew Tori and the kid were coming over to pick up the Floweypot since I told them earlier that he was doing better and that they could come pick him up, so I made sure to get enough ingredients so that everyone could stay for dinner."

Sans peeped around his brother and gave a short wave. "yo, tori. 'sup, kiddo?"

Frisk smiled excitedly and immediately began signing to Sans and Papyrus, and Toriel smiled before placing a paw on Lori's shoulder. "Thank you for helping Asriel for Frisk and I. I know he can be difficult to get along with."

Lori smiled and shrugged. "Iunno, he and I came to an agreement, I think. Plus, he's rather docile when he's photosynthesizing after a nice big pot of compost. Not that I've told him what compost is, mind you." Toriel looked at her funnily, and she laughed. "I can teach you and Frisk to make compost later. You'll want to keep giving some to Asriel to keep his soil nutritious."

Toriel smiled and gestured towards the brothers. "I am pleased to see that you get along so well with these two. They are good, reliable friends."

Lori smiled and lit the last candle. "Well, I trust Blooks with my life, and if he considers you all friends, then it's pretty safe to say that I would too. He's never introduced me to someone I didn't end up considering a friend."

Toriel smiled before pausing briefly to sniff at the air. "What is that smell? I recognize your candles by now, but there is something else that smells simply _wonderful_."

Lori gave a toothy grin and gestured towards the door. "Why don't you come inside and sit for a few while Paps and I throw that salad together."

0-0-0-0-0

She and Papyrus had the salad together in short order, though it would have taken even less time if she hadn't taken the time to explain what everything that was going into the salad was right then and there. His curiosity was endearing and adorable, but often a bit time consuming, though she rarely minded.

Between the adults present, the food, plates, serving utensils, and knives made their way to the large patio table. Insisting upon helping, Frisk had been given the task of picking out five forks from the drawer and bringing them to the table, a task that they performed admirably.

"Ok, Papyrus, would you like to do the honors of explaining what's on the menu for tonight?"

He posed valiantly and grinned widely. "CERTAINLY, TALLER HUMAN! FOR TONIGHT'S LATEST CULINARY MASTERPIECE, THE HUMAN AND I HAVE CREATED SEVERAL MEATLOAVES, AN EXTRA LARGE AND EXTRA CHEESY DISH OF SCALLOPED POTATOES, AND A SALAD WITH ROMAINE LETTUCE, KALE, CUCUMBERS, CARROTS, AND MICRO-GREENS! THE MICRO-GREENS MAKE IT EXTRA NUTRITIOUS!"

"And we have honey mustard, blue cheese dressing, ranch, and a few other dressings in the fridge. I also threw together a balsamic vinaigrette with some sesame seeds that I like to use for myself, but there's plenty to go around if that's what peeps wanna use."

Sans stared curiously at the meatloaf. "eh, kid? what's that red stuff on the meatloaf? and why is there ketchup on the table?"

Lori pointed with the end of the serving spoon for the potatoes, having gone for the starch immediately. "Chili sauce, which is pretty much just ketchup with chili powder in it, and the bottles are for you. Surprisingly, when people tell me things, I tend to remember them. And your brother has mentioned your affinity for ketchup _repeatedly_. There's more in the fridge, all I ask is that you don't get into the EZ-squeeze bottle, since that one is for my use on like...grilled cheese an' whatnot. The rest are strictly for you."

He nodded, and got a few slices of the meatloaf before passing the dish off to his right and accepting the potatoes. He turned down the salad, passing it on without taking any.

Lori looked around and smiled. "Getting kinda dark, but it's nice. Look at the lightning bugs."

Everyone looked out and saw the small bioluminescent insects, but Sans was the only one to speak. "kind of a big yard. where's your, uh...property line?"

Lori flushed crimson. "About a tenth of a mile beyond the tree line. This house is sitting on about 30 acres of property, a lot of it woods and such. Unfortunately, the house is so close to the town that some of the delinquents think it's funny to come all the way out here while I'm in town and spray graffiti or whatever. Once, they hopped my fence and shredded my garden to bits." She spoke quietly and poked at her meatloaf with her fork. "I don't exactly fit in around here, and ever since my dad moved with his new wife clear across the country after she poisoned him against me, I've been all alone out here for the most part.."

She cleared her throat, adjusted how she was sitting and smiled, looking around at everyone else seated at the table. "I was lucky, and got to meet Blooky, and he introduced me to all of you. So, really, I'm kinda thankful I didn't just sell the property and move on. I'm sure that if you want, since it's not a school night, I could rustle up a jar for you to go catching lightning bugs, if you wanted to, Frisk. There's obviously enough room for it."

"why don't you just report them to the cops or whatever?"

Lori looked over at Sans with shock evident on her face. "Huh?"

"the jerks that keep breaking your stuff. why not call the cops on them?"

"Because I can't get proof of who it is that does it. Tried hiding cameras once, and they just stole the damn cameras. Besides, I don't really think the cops would do much about it, and even then, it'd just be like a fine or something. not exactly going to deter those...those...ugh. Anyway, let's eat, shall we? I made cheesecake for dessert."

The rest of the meal went rather uneventfully, which Lori was thankful for. Sans had cracked a few puns, terrible ones at that, one of which sent Toriel into a fit of giggles so bad that she nearly choked on her drink. Lori had smiled at his jokes, but managed to avoid choking, since she was inevitably actively eating or drinking every time he cracked a pun.

Dessert was brought out eventually, and was enjoyed whole-heartedly by everyone present. Lori slipped inside and found a mason jar and brought it back outside for Frisk to use to catch the fireflies. It was now dark enough that it was becoming a bit hard to see, so the lanterns hanging from various stakes around the patio were lit, and a few more brought to the table. They all watched Frisk skip and jump around the back yard for a few moments in companionable silence.

"Thank you for allowing Frisk free run of your yard to chase insects. They really do enjoy those ones, and there isn't much room for them to run like this in the city."

Lori waved her hand and smiled. "No biggie. Really, bring them out whenever they want. I have a pool too, so that will be nice for them during the summers. I don't mind having company at a-"

She whipped her head to the direction Frisk was in, and her smile fell immediately. "Fuck."

Frisk was running back towards the patio at full speed, mason jar abandoned, a dark form behind them. Lori took off running towards Frisk, leading the others to jolt upright from their chairs immediately and yell after her questioningly. A single, breathless word was their only response; "coywolf."

Lori reached Frisk and scooped the child up and around in a single motion, holding them close and away from the predator in question, expecting the claws and fangs to come moments after.

But nothing came.

Hesitantly, she turned around,not knowing what to expect. She gasped lightly at seeing Sans there, eye and hand ablaze, holding the coywolf in place. "whaddaya want me to do with it, kid?"

Lori put Frisk down and slowly approached the immobilized beast and looked it over. "It's rabid. Can you kill it? Or should I go get-"

Sans had put it out of its misery before she could finish, his magic fading once the deed was done. Lori swallowed hard. "Thanks."

"dun mention it."

Lori looked down at Frisk, who had gotten her attention by tugging on the leg of her shorts. "Yeah?"

*I'm sorry I lost your jar.

"they said they're sorry 'bout the jar."

Lori shook her head. "It's ok. That was a dollar, tops, and we can find it in the morning. You're irreplaceable. Ok? Let's just...go back to the patio. And maybe inside."

*Inside sounds good.

Lori laughed. "I might not know much sign, but I recognize 'good', and that facial expression says it all. C'mon."

0-0-0-0-0

Toriel exhaled sharply, shocked at news of exactly what had happened. "Oh my. I am terribly sorry that happened, my child. Are you alright?"

Frisk nodded, cuddled up to Lori, who had insisted that hot chocolate was what the doctor ordered.

"I'm really sorry about that. My best guess is that the coywolf was prowling around out there, out of its mind because of the rabies, and Frisk got close enough for it to pick up on them. Had I known it was that close, we wouldn't have even eaten outside unless I'd brought the gun."

Everyone else in the room froze. "you have a gun?"

Lori blinked. "I live alone on property surrounded by woods. There's coyotes, coywolves, and other predators. And, like you just saw, some of them have rabies. It would take animal control way too long to get here. So yes, I have a gun for 'oh lordy loo, there's a wild animal that I have to put down or kill in self-defense'. The last time I had to use it was on a coyote that decided that, even though there's about 27 acres of woods around my house, it needed to have its babies under my porch. It kept attacking me, and I couldn't leave my house. Animal control had refused to come out before, which is why I had bought the gun in the first place. And so there you have it. It's been used once. I may as well not own it. I eventually gave up and bought a thumbprint scanning lock, because I kept forgetting the combination on the gun safe."

Papyrus and Toriel relaxed considerably at the explanation, but Sans remained fairly tense.

*What's wrong?

Sans caught notice and forced himself to relax. "nothin', kiddo. just still a bit shocked from your close encounter earlier."

They nodded and gave a small noise of acceptance, giving a pronounced yawn that caused Lori to look down at them and smooth their hair down. "Tired?" Frisk didn't respond, their breathing evening out into the slow, measured breaths of sleep.

"Looks like Frisk is out for the night." Lori looked over at Flowey, finally peeking out from around the book she had loaned him. She nodded.

"Probably. Enjoying the book?"

Flowey scoffed and looked to the side. "Hardly. But...just in case...do you...happen to have the second book?"

Lori laughed and nodded. "Yeah. I have the whole series. I'm sure that took a lot of effort to say."

He sighed. "You have no idea."

Lori looked over at Toriel and noted the faint circles under her eyes. "Y'all wanna stay here tonight? I have enough spare bedrooms for everyone, and you look kinda bushed."

Toriel smiled sheepishly and smoothed out her skirt. "I am fine, my child. Truly. I would not want to impose upon you like that."

Lori frowned and arched an eyebrow as she stared at Toriel. "Honey...I know what it's like on that side of town now, and the bags under your eyes could carry groceries. It's ok to take a night off. You won't be imposing or anything, I promise."

Papyrus gawked at the bluntness of Lori's statement, and saw that Sans was doing the same. "H-HUMAN, YOU RE-"

Toriel held up a hand to stop Papyrus. "No, Papyrus. She is right. I have been sleeping poorly of late, and both you and Sans are just as familiar as she is with the 'why' of it," Toriel sighed. "if you are certain that it will not be a bother, my child, I will accept your offer."

Lori smiled softly. "If it'll make you feel better, you can cook breakfast as payment. If Sans and Papyrus wanted to spend the night too, I'm sure it would be simply…" She paused, looking at Sans with a stupid, lopsided grin. "... _font-tastic_?"

Papyrus groaned and buried his face in his hands. "BETWEEN YOU AND MY BROTHER...HONESTLY, HUMAN."

Sans stared open mouthed. ' _maybe she isn't all bad'_

Lori giggled at Sans' expression and silence. "Sorry, was that too _bold_ for you?"

"HUMAN!"

Sans snapped out of his silence with a grin. "nah, kiddo. those were pretty _striking_ , though."

"SANS!"

Lori scoffed. "Weak. Anyway, Paps, you wanna carry Frisk to their bed for the night, since they're already out?"

"CERTAINLY, HUMAN. WHERE-"

"End of the hall, immediate left. Tori, you're to the right, right across the hall. The spare rooms are always ready to go, so...you know...mi casa, su casa and whatnot."

Toriel nodded. "Thank you, my child. You are so very, very sweet. I think I shall head to bed shortly."

Papyrus scooped up Frisk and carried them down the hall to the room Lori had mentioned, and tucked them in gently before sneaking out of the room and closing the door. Lori gave a questioning thumbs up to Papyrus, who smiled and returned the gesture twofold.

"hey paps, you gettin' sleepy yet?"

Papyrus sat back down in the recliner that he had been sitting in prior to taking Frisk to bed, and frowned. "PERHAPS, BROTHER, BUT I DO NOT WISH TO INSULT OUR FRIEND BY GOING TO SLEEP SO EARLY."

Lori waved her hand dismissively. "Dude. If you need to sleep, then you need to sleep. I'm not gonna call you a party pooper or anything. Hells, I'd probably call you sensible, because I'm known to be up at all hours of the night."

He nodded softly, then gasped, bringing his hands to his mouth. "OH NO, BROTHER! WE DO NOT HAVE MY STORY BOOK!"

Lori paused and held out a hand. "Wait, like bedtime story?"

Papyrus nodded tearily. "Paps...you know how much of a bibliophibian I am. If I didn't have bookshelves, I'd have to be able to breathe paper. You could borrow one of my books for tonight, maybe? Shoot, I could even read it to you if you wanted."

Sans arched a browbone. "you have kid books?"

She pouted and looked away. "Not 'kid', per se...but I do have a lot of the cooler young adult series. They're quality literature."

Sans laughed. "'m not gonna question your tastes. up to you paps."

Papyrus paused for a moment, thinking, before he softly gave his answer. "I-if it's alright with you and the human...I'd like for her to do my story tonight. What would you recommend, human?"

Lori blinked, not having expected Papyrus to take her up on her offer. "Shit, really? You're even letting me pick?" Papyrus nodded quietly, a faint orange tint lighting his cheek bones.

' _Holy shit, that is adorable.'_

"Wellllll...what would you like to hear about? Wizards? Demi-gods? Elves and dwarves? Valiant quests? There's a whole lot."

Papyrus shrugged sheepishly. "Well, that's helpful. Guess I'll just go ahead and pick on my own." She walked over to a shelf on the wall of that room and pulled and older, well-worn book off of the shelf. "C'mon. I'll only read you the first chapter or two. Don't want to keep you up all night."

Sans' eye lights followed the human and his brother down the stairs. ' _at least she isn't entirely untrustworthy.'_

He winced in pain and flexed his right hand gingerly inside the pocket of his jacket. _'seems like we're in for a storm tonight.'_

0-0-0-0-0

 **Pain, blinding and white, seared through his bones. The face, which he never could remember, not really, loomed above him, instruments shining white in the overly bright and sterile light.**

 **He struggled to get free, the restraints holding him fast to the cold metal table. "Hold still," the same deep, familiar voice said. He continued to struggle anyway, the sound of the drill coming closer and gaining intensity as he struggled, making the restraints dig into him further, holding him fast to the cold metal table.**

 **"I said hold still," reiterated the voice as the drill came into view, the bit entering his eye socket as he screamed.**

0-0-0-0-0

Lori gasped and lurched forward, fear coursing hot through her veins. She hastily looked around, surveying her surroundings. ' _Nothing? What the hell? Why am I-'_

Realization dawned on her as she heard someone close a door in the hallway quietly, and then shuffle towards the stairs to go up to the main floor. ' _That didn't sound like Paps...maybe Sans…?'_

She slipped out of bed and grabbed whatever loose clothes she could find close at hand. Deeming herself decent enough, she slipped out of her room and padded silently down the hall and up the stairs. As she reached the top of the stairs, she saw a figure coming out of the kitchen and entering the living room, leaving the lights off.

She frowned slightly, still feeling the fear coming off him in waves. She moved to the living room and turned on a small lamp in the corner without speaking before heading to the kitchen to put on a kettle of water. Pulling out a vacuum-sealed enameled ceramic jar, a few mugs, and some other necessities, she began portioning out two bags of loose tea leaves.

She heard little movement from the other room as she finished prepping the mugs of tea, and sighed. Carrying the mugs out of the kitchen and into the living room, she offered one to Sans, who was slouched into the love seat with an open bottle of ketchup in one hand, the other in his shorts pocket. She noted the blank stare on his face and frowned even deeper.

She sat the two mugs down on the floor, took the bottle from his hand and screwed the cap back on, then handed him the mug of tea. The warmth shook him from his reverie, and she smiled softly at him. "That bad, huh?"

He watched her quietly as she picked her mug up and moved silently across the room to plop down into the recliner she had been in earlier. Her hands wove together around the mug as she used it to warm her hands. Sans hesitated for a moment before sighing inwardly, taking his other hand out of his pocket, and imitating her.

She nodded in approval. "A cold drink might help you wake up and shake off sleep, but a warm one will help soothe frayed nerves and try to bring you back to a good, calm state. Didn't know what you'd like best so I just made a second cup of oolong." She paused, tracing circles on her mug with one of her index fingers. "You...you wanna talk about it?"

He glared at her as she took a sip, her eyes still on him. "why?"

She frowned and looked off to the side, her index fingers still fidgeting with her mug. "Because talking can help. Nobody is ever around when I have my nightmares, and...well...I know that I'd appreciate it if someone offered an ear after I've had a particularly bad dream."

"how the hell did you even know that I had had a nightmare? how did you even know I was awake?"

She bit her lip quietly.

He stopped, and the lights faded from his eyes as realization dawned on him. " **how did you know frisk was being chased, earlier? you weren't looking that way, and there was no way you could have heard them. you had better start explaining. now."**

She winced and stared intently at her mug. "Look. I know you don't trust humans, but why would I hurt people that I consider friends? I'm closer with Paps, Frisk, and Tori than I am with my own family. I am legitimately closer with you and your friends...your family...than I am with literally _any_ of my own kind, save for Frisk. So I understand your concern. Really. Humans are awful, and I don't blame you a single bit if you hate me just because of my species. I'm way ahead of you on hating me, though, so you're a bit late to the party,"

"Not all humans were ignorant to magic before monsters started coming out of the woods surrounding Mount Ebott. Some people knew that magic existed, and claimed to 'practice' it, with most not really getting any results. Others, like myself, know it exists. And we have some shred of it in our some of us actually own up to that fact, and accept that it's a part of us. Nothing flashy or fancy like monsters have, usually...but magic nonetheless." She readjusted herself in her seat, clearing her throat gently.

"I'm an empath. I felt Frisk's fear. I knew something was wrong, but not what, not really. That's why I just took off running. I didn't know whether the fear was merited or not. I...I also felt your fear, Sans. I can 'tune out' or whatever you want to call it, but only if I'm awake. When I'm asleep, it's different. For starters, there's normally nobody close enough that I'd be able to pick up on anything. I do live alone, after all."

Sans nodded, still staring at her, though with a kinder, more approachable face. His eye lights had returned as he listened, nodding softly when she stopped for breath.

She looked at him warily. "Monsters...monsters are different, though. If human emotions are given off like breezes, then monsters...monsters give off their emotions in gales. They're so raw, and unobstructed. It's taken some getting used to. It's been like I've been getting slapped with bold face text, instead of blurry, unclear crap that takes time to get used to reading. So when you had your nightmare, it was like a hurricane of raw, unadulterated fear that punched straight through the ignorance of sleep. I woke up with a fight or flight response. I knew it was bad. So I...I thought you might not mind some company. I wanted to try to help."

She sighed and took a long drink of her tea before setting her mug down on the table next to her. "If you'd like me to leave...then I will."

Sans exhaled sharply and rubbed the back of his neck. "look...i...would rather not talk about it. but if you wanted to...I wouldn't mind the company."

Lori blushed and smiled softly. "Ok. Want me to join you over there so we can watch a movie or something? Wait...what time is it?" She glanced around, her eyes settling on the antique analogue clock in the corner, the light reflecting gently off the glass dome and the golden balls of the swirling pendulum that kept time with the seconds that passed. ' _Five thirty-three?_ '

She nodded. "Sorry, I hadn't taken time to look at a clock or grab my phone or anything when I was getting up. You wanna see something cool?"

He shrugged. "why not?"

She grinned and grabbed the throw blankets off the back of the couch. "Follow me."

She padded quickly yet gracefully to the sliding glass door at the back of the house and unlocked it hastily before stepping outside onto the patio in her bare feet. Sans followed lazily, shutting the door behind him halfway slowly as to not make much noise. He looked around to find her, finally finding her halfway up a ladder on the side of the house that he hadn't noticed before. She looked down at him. "You comin"?"

He followed carefully, trying his best to not slip on the rungs built carefully into the house with, thankfully, flat, textured stepping areas. Lori crouched down and offered him a hand as he reached the top, helping him pull himself up onto the roof carefully. She walked across the slightly slanted area with practiced ease, leading him by the hand carefully to their destination,a flat section of the roof pointed at an area of the tree line surrounding her house that was short enough to give a clear view of the mountains off in the east. A few lawn chairs were already up there, and she handed him the second throw blanket before wrapping the first around her shoulders and settling into one of the chairs.

He looked at her questioningly, and she smiled. "Give it a few minutes. You'll see." He shrugged and followed suit, staring off over the tree line. His mouth opened slightly as the first golden-pink rays of light peeked out from over the mountain top.

"'s...wow."

Lori looked at him and smiled, watching him more than the sunrise. His eye lights had enlarged somewhat at the view, and she was relieved to find no traces of fear left in his current emotions. She turned her attention back to the sunrise, enjoying the view herself. "Feeling better?"

He looked over at her, his smile genuine. "thanks. really."

She nodded. "No prob, man."


	3. Things That Kill Me for 200, Alex

Chapter Two

 **Songs, none of which I own: Dani California-Red Hot Chili Peppers, Semi-Charmed Life-Third Eye Blind, Inside Out-Eve 6**

 **I also do not own Undertale.**

 **I added a cover picture earlier! That's my own personal rendition of Lori on there, so there ya go! Feel free to R &R. This chap is a little bit kinda hinky (good English there, I know.) There's time skips and such ahead...but things will get smoother. This is still kinda introductory stuff. **

**Thanks for reading!**

Lorilai paused and glared at the papers in front of her before reorganizing them into the proper order. She looked up at the small blue ghost on the other side of the glass as she rubbed her fingers on a small block of yellow wax. "We ready?"

Napstablook gave her a small nod. "Whenever you're ready."

Lori rolled her neck and shoulders and grabbed the bow off the music stand and rolled her wrist around with it in her hand a few times. The large headphones over her ears shifted slightly as she got into position behind her cello. She ignored it as she gently rubbed her fingers over the strings and began to draw out the first few low, almost mournful notes. She moved with the tempo of the music, letting it flow through her as she drew the notes forth, glancing up to read the sheet music as needed.

Blooky watched as his friend became one with the music she had agreed to help him record for a mix he was making. She was certainly something else, and he was glad that she wasn't like most other humans. He pressed the button to stop recording as she stopped. "Th-that was great."

She grinned toothily at her friend through the glass. "Thanks. Say, we've been at this a while. You wanna take a break? We could go grab something from Muffet's or something."

Blooky shrugged. It wasn't like he was going to argue with his friend, who, unlike him, needed to eat regularly. She set the cello in its stand and slipped on her sunglasses which, if she was honest, were more for fashion than keeping the sun out of her eyes. She was fairly certain that John Lennon and Ozzy Osbourne, who wore similar glasses, would agree.

Her foot came in contact with the push bar on the door out of the studio and she shoved it open and walked out of it, catching it with her hip to let Blooky out behind her. He followed, and she glanced at the time on her phone before opening up her messages to check the unopened message that she had.

[sans: yo, what was that book you started readin' to paps? he's kept talkin' 'bout it and wants to get a copy.]

She grinned and quickly tapped out her reply as Blooky locked up the studio door.

[Dude, it was "the hobbit". If you promise to be stupid careful with it, you can borrow my copy to keep reading to him at night. I don't mind being a library for my friends. Flowey still has my copy of eragon.]

She slipped her phone back into her back pocket and looked over at Blooky. "So. Muffet's or Grillby's?"

"W-we could go to a h-human restaurant, you know…"

She looked at him funnily. "And deal with those assholes? I'm perfectly willing to come to your defense against...well, anyone really...but I don't want to have to deal with humans thinking that we're infringing on their _territory_ or some shit."

' _But it would only be me they would really be objecting to…'_ Blooky frowned at that thought.

"Blooks?" He looked up and saw his friend's concerned look.

Lori patted his head gently. "C'mon. Let's go pay our favorite hothead a visit."

Thankfully, Grillby's was pretty much just around the corner from the small studio that she had helped Blooky rent, and so the August heat didn't get to take much of a toll on them. The chorus of 'hello's sounded off as some of the regulars recognized one of their own, and she gave a short wave above her head to no one in particular. Her eyes were too focused on the ground of the fairly dimly lit room to notice the familiar figure that was already seated at the bar.

"'sup?"

She looked up and waved as she took a seat to his right, Blooky sitting to her right. "Oh hey. Did you get my text?"

"yeah, but 'm not sure why you let the houseplant borrow your book"

Lori shrugged. "He may be kind of a spoiled, bratty asshole, but I struck up a deal with him. So long as he works on keeping his behaviour and such in check, he can borrow my books so he has something new to read. He gets his love of reading honestly. Tori borrows a book every week or so. So far, he's been doing pretty good. All I have to do when he starts to act out is remind him that if he douches his behaviour up, that he loses book privilege, and he straightens his shit right out."

Sans grunted, impressed that someone other than Frisk had finally gotten through to the flower.

Grillby's came over and took her order, Blooky politely declining to have anything. Lori smiled at him. "So whatcha been up to?"

Sans shrugged. "nothin' much. damage control, mostly. some asshole broke into tori's place last night. and torched her car."

Lori's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! Why the hell did nobody tell me? Shit. Is everyone ok?"

Sans nodded, closing his eyes. "yeah, and tori keeps her car pretty clean, so they didn't lose much. she woke up and went to investigate before much of anything happened in her place. they only really got her purse. she ain't feeling so safe anymore, though. came and spent the rest of the night with me and paps, once she was done talking with the cops."

Lori thanked Grillby for her food and grabbed a fry. "She going back to stay at her place?"

Sans shrugged. "it's only her n the kid, so she isn't really comfortable with the idea, but she might. no tellin' what'll happen to her stuff if she ain't there."

Lori nodded and pulled out her phone, wiping her fingertips on her denim shorts to try to avoid getting so much grease on her screen protector, and tapped out a text.

[Sans told me about what happened last night. You shouldn't have to worry about that kind of stuff on top of everything else. If you want, you and Frisk can move in with me, and I'll tell your jackass slumlord of a landlord to stuff it up his tailpipe. Give me the word, and I'll have a moving van in front of your place in no time, ok?]

Sans glanced over at her. "texting tori?"

Lori set her phone on the counter heavily. "Hells yeah, I was texting Tori. That's totally ridiculous that someone would do that to her." Lori glared at her burger before taking a large, rather "un-ladylike" bite of it. She chewed for a moment before grumbling with a partially full mouth about 'nobody fucking with family' of hers and getting away with it. She looked over at her friend and frowned. "Take Blooks, for example. Somebody fucks with him and I find out about it and I'm on their asses like white on rice. It's the same for any of my friends. You included."

Blooky blushed and smiled softly. "Y-you don't have to…"

Lori stopped with a fry halfway to her mouth and pointed at Blooky using the fry. "Sorry 'bout your luck, sweet pea. I'm gonna anyway." She viciously took a bite of the fry and nodded, her point having been made.

Her phone chimed and she wiped her fingers again before picking it up. "Damn…"

Sans arched a brow bone. "'sup kiddo?" She handed him her phone and grabbed another fry.

[tori: It is perfectly fine, my child. Neither Frisk nor I were hurt, and I cannot impose upon you like that. I have asked Asgore to spend the night on the couch for a week or so, in case the thieves attempt to come back. My insurance will cover replacing my vehicle, so there is no need for you to worry. With Asgore spending the next week at my apartment, I will still have vehicle access until I get my new car. Thank you for your concern, dear.]

Sans looked up at Lori, who seemed fairly unaffected, and handed her back her phone. She tapped out a reply, fairly short, given how quickly she did so, and went about finishing her food. "at least everything is going smoothly, right?"

Lori shrugged. "Yeah, I just wish there was something I could do to help. At least things weren't worse, and the community is close-knit enough that if she needed anything, at least someone would manage to help her, or there would be a group effort of some kind."

Sans nodded, smiling. "yeah, and if i know us, you're considered a member of the monster community. by the humans, too."

"Eh, monsters are nicer around here anyway, so I don't think I'm losing out on much."

He shrugged. "no comment."

She laughed, standing up and dusting crumbs off her outfit. "YO GRILLBS! YOU KNOW THE DEAL, MAN! Anyway, Sans, Blooks and I gotta get back to work or MTT is gonna have our heads for not getting shit done on time. You should tune in to his show on Friday. Ciao!"

He watched as she jogged out the door, the small ghost following close behind. He shook his head and smiled as he returned to his bottle of ketchup.

0-0-0-0-0

The rest of the week had gone smoothly, which Lori thought was incredibly fortunate. This did not, however, put her nerves any more at ease about what was about to happen. She and Blooky glanced at one another and exhaled sharply. "You ready for this, Blooks?"

His blush deepened, which Lori hadn't thought possible. "Y...yeah."

She cleared her throat. "Right...just like we practiced then."

He slowly phased into her body, and she stiffened, a feeling like ice water trailing down her spine catching her by surprise, like every other time.

They hadn't been intending to find this little quirk of human anatomy, but when a horror movie had scared the two of them badly enough that they had jumped and moved to cling to one another, they inadvertently discovered that he could possess her body just like Mettaton possessed his mechanical one, or their cousins had possessed their dummies. He had the advantage of having a copilot that could take over if he wasn't sure how to do something, and someone to reassure him and give him the confidence to maintain possession over a corporeal object, without having to form a permanent attachment.

Lori was willing to help, which made things simpler, she imagined, over having to forcibly possess something for an extended period of time. It wasn't really that bad, actually...it was like she was on autopilot, unless Blooky needed help with anything. Mentally, they just had a conversation. Ultimately, she could exert control over her body if needed, but since Blooky always asked her permission before he did...anything really, there wasn't really any need.

' _You good, man?'_

 _'Y-yeah…'_

 _'Right. I'll get to cosmetics then. We don't wanna look bad, or MTT will kill us.'_

She rolled her shoulders and approached the vanity where her cosmetics were laid out. "See? This is why I said 'before'."

' _O-oh...your eyes…'_

She shrugged. "It's whatever. It just changes the colors I use."

She pulled out an iridescent white eyeshadow and red eyeliner, applying them skillfully around her now unearthly blue, glowing eyes. "Light brown and glowey baby blue are two _very_ different colors." She nodded, satisfied that her winged eyeliner was as even as it was going to get. Blooky reached over to grab his headphones and slipped them on around her neck.

' _Ready when you are. You're the performer here.'_

She snorted. "Does that make you the brains behind this operation? I'm just the gripping power."

She felt his happiness and what she could only describe as a 'cute little internal blush', and smiled, walking out the door to go to the stage.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans and Papyrus couldn't believe what they were seeing. They tuned in like Lori had suggested-not that Papyrus would _ever_ miss The Mettaton Show-and there she was, Lori, waving to the crowd, evidently the guest musician for the show tonight.

But something was wrong.

Her eyes were different. So different that the change was visible out on the far shots.

Her eyes were glowing blue. Blue with _magic._

Sans dove for his phone and began demanding that she explain what the hell was going on.

Papyrus was clearly enjoying her performance, which was, Sans had to admit, pretty good. But he recognized the telltale signs of Napstablook's mixes, and spotted his headphones around Lori's neck. ' _wha…?'_

0-0-0-0-0

Her first set went off without incident, and she slipped her phone out of her pocket once she got off camera, curious to see who had been blowing up her phone.

[sans: what. the fuck. your eyes. explain.]

0-0-0-0-0

[It's nothing bad, I promise. Blooky is just borrowing my hands. I'll explain later, I promise.]

He sighed and shrugged, turning his attention loosely back to the television. ' _guess that's all the answer i'm getting, huh?'_

The stage lights reflected brightly off of her neon blue and cyan bangs as she jogged back on stage for her next set, stopping behind the turntable and waving, a huge smile spreading across her face, her deep purple lipstick making sure her smile stood out against the pale backdrop of her face.

"Right, so for this part of the show, I thought we'd do something a bit different. Hope you enjoy it."

She got to work like before, but after a lengthy intro, began singing with the tracks, and Sans recognized it as a song off an album that Lori had burned him a copy of when he mentioned that he was looking for new music. He was less focused on the lyrics than he would have liked, more focused on her voice, and the look she was giving the camera that was trained on her face.

 _I would swallow my pride,_

 _I would choke on the rhymes, but the lack thereof would leave me empty inside._

 _I would swallow my doubt, turn it inside out,_

 _Find nothin' but faith in nothin'._

 _Heart in a blender,_

 _Watch it spin round to a beautiful oblivion._

 _Rendez-vous, then I'm through with you._

 _I want something else,_

 _To get me through me through this,_

 _Semi charmed kind of life, baby, baby,_

 _I'm not listening when you say,_

 _California, rest in peace,_

 _Simultaneous release._

 _California, show your teeth._

 _She's my priestess,_

 _I'm your priest._

 _Yeah, yeah, yeah_

Sans blinked. The lyrics he caught weren't all familiar, and he could tell they weren't from the same song, though he did suppose that, since the ghost was involved, everything that was going on was a remix. Not that any of it sounded bad, especially not with the vocals that Lori was providing. Given the look on Mettaton's face, it isn't what he was expecting out of his cousin either. It was fairly far from his norm, and definitely had a heavy hand from Lorilai in its production.

Her second set was apparently the conclusion to tonight's show, because once she had finished, Mettaton was doing his out-tro, waving with her, and then escorting her off the stage. Papyrus looked back and grinned at him excitedly. "I DID NOT KNOW THE HUMAN WAS SO SKILLED AT MUSIC! WOWWIE!"

Sans nodded and grinned. "yeah, paps. seems like she's full of surprises."

0-0-0-0-0

Time passed fairly quickly after that, between social time with her new friends, and working with Napstablook for follow-up performances. Lori was happy, occupied, and felt welcome and accepted. After finding Asgore on the couch, nobody had bothered Toriel again, much to everyone's relief. The time they spent together that week had brought the king and his former queen closer again, and they were in the beginning stages of courting again, testing the waters to see if there was hope for them after all.

Lori would head over to Sans and Papyrus' place and hang with Frisk and the 'skelebros' as she liked to call them, ensuring that the chills was fed and bathed and put in bed at appropriate times when Toriel and Asgore were out on dates. Frisk and Papyrus would routinely sleep together on those nights, demanding that Lori read their story, going wide eyed and intently curious as she would read more chapters out of _The Hobbit_.

August left them behind, and so did a good portion of the summer heat. September brought with it a good deal of rain, and a fairly steep drop in temperature. Lori trudged through the puddles and the rain to the studio with Blooky after a late lunch break in that day's recording session, not noticing the figure watching them from the shadows. They unlocked the door and stepped inside, Lori grabbing a towel beside the door to dry off her hair before she slipped off her leather jacket and sat it and the towel in a chair by the door.

Their studio was small, having only the recording room, the room with the tech and the door to the outside, and a small storage closet in the corner of the room beside the computers. It had been a small, local radio station, but due to a lack of funding, they had had to shut down, leaving the place vacant for a number of years, since it had been highly specialized and wasn't able to be repurposed.

Lori took off her boots, slipped her phone on to silent, and headed into the recording room, locking the door behind her out of habit. She sat down to look up at Blooky and ask him what he wanted to work on now, but her smile fell when she looked out the window to the sound bank. Blooky had his back to her, and he was trembling. Her brows furrowed as she peered further around the corner to see what was wrong, and as she noticed the dark figure, knife in hand, her eyes widened in fear.

This is what those rumors had been about. A man, large and intimidating, with a knife. Killing monsters and consuming their remains to try to gain a portion of their magic, stealing their souls...it didn't really matter which version you heard. They were all terrifying possibilities.

Possibilities, apparently, which were based on truth.

Lori hoped silently with a grim face that there wasn't any truth to the part of the stories where the psychopath gained some of their victim's magic. As a ghost, she had found out, Blooky was immune to physical attacks.

If this guy had magic, however…

She pulled out her phone and dialed 911, hiding behind the wall as much as she could. She knew that, thankfully, the recording system hadn't been turned on yet, so she felt confident enough about hazarding a call out of view.

 _"Nine-One-One, what is your emergency?"_

"There's a guy here, threatening my friend with a knife. I'm at 97 East Lorry. Please send help."

She heard a muffled collision on the other side of the door, and gasped as Blooky, injured, came crawling through the wall meekly. She threw her phone down and scrambled to get to him, eyes watering as she assessed the damage.

He looked at her through watery eyes and pulled out his soul, and she gasped as its dim light flickered, and a small crack in the top began to spread.

"H-he can-can't have this. Keep it safe."

Lori paused briefly in her panic, confused at the words her friend spoke. She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but he acted before she got the chance. Her mouth contorted into a silent scream, pain ripping through her entire being as her dearest friend shoved his soul inside her chest while his form faltered. Lori dropped from her kneeling position to support herself with her hands, weak as her arms were due to the pain, looking up to see her friend mouth a silent 'good-bye' as he turned to dust.

Tears streamed down her face and she choked on her breath as slamming on her door snapped her back to reality. The dense metal door was apparently holding their attacker at bay somewhat, but from the looks of things, he just about had the door off of its hinges. She winced, fighting the pain to stand and fight.

' _Blooky…'_

Another hit and the door gave way. Her attacker was slow to enter the room, and Lori took what she saw as her opportunity, and sent her knuckles full force into his throat. He staggered and dropped the knife, gasping meekly for air as she shoved past him, running for the door. She didn't look back as she ran out the door into the rain, barefoot and thoroughly disheveled. She got across the street and explained the situation, sighing with relief as the police arrived, as well as an ambulance.

The officers went in, guns ready, and several walked back out and got on their radios, the paramedics running in to take their place. She walked outside and greeted the officers, explained the situation and her part in it, and asked if she could put her shoes on.

She frowned as one of the paramedics came out and whispered something in the officer's ear. He sighed and looked at her. "Unfortunately, no. We've got a bit of a problem."

She paused and fidgeted. "What seems to be the problem, Officer?"

"The paramedics confirmed that that was indeed monster dust, so this place was a crime scene to begin with. But…"

"But…?"

He sighed. "If what you said happened actually happened...then you just killed someone."

Her jaw dropped in shock as he gathered her hands behind her and zip tied them in place, reciting her rights as tears streamed down her face before escorting her to the car.

Kinda funny, the various things that can jeopardize your whole way of life. Like five minutes one Friday afternoon.


	4. Dead Inside

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN UNDERTALE! Carry on.**

 **So I'm doing my best to catch everything before chapters go live, but let's just say that the autocorrect on my iPad works just about as well as a roomba running through dog shit in your otherwise clean kitchen while forgetting about your living room rug full of dog hairs(or residue?) and toddler grit; it makes a mess where there wasn't one before and doesn't clean up the messes it needs to. If you catch something I missed, feel free to give me a shout in PM or in a review, aye?**

 **R &R if ya like, and thanks for reading!**

CHAPTER THREE

Lori rubbed her wrists and sighed. She still wasn't sure of what all was going on. What the hell had Blooky done? How had that guy _actually hurt him,_ and even more importantly, badly enough to…

No. She couldn't think about that now. She was barely holding herself together, and she needed to get her shit together and get herself out of dodge, since jail didn't exactly sound like fun to her. There would be time later. There had to be.

She looked up as one of the officers that she had been dealing with for the past hour or so came back into the interrogation room they had sequestered her in. He had a bottle of water with him, the saint. "Thanks, Officer Snead."

"Yep."

She took a small drink before fidgeting slightly with the bottle. "So, um...I know I'm supposed to get a call to a lawyer and a personal call...any idea when I'll get to make those?"

He nodded. "Let me go get a phone."

She smiled weakly at him as he walked out. "Thanks."

She glanced at the clock mounted on the wall. ' _An hour and a half already? Jeez.'_

Officer Snead came back with a cordless phone and handed it to her. She placed a quick call to the family lawyer and told him that she would explain once he got to the station, ended the call, and then froze.

She didn't have her phone with her. She didn't have her contacts list with her.

She couldn't remember anyone's phone numbers. Other than the one that couldn't really help her.

She sighed and slowly plucked out the numbers, holding the phone to her ear and praying for an answer. She was surprised, but there was one.

"Kiddo? Can ya hear me ok? One cough for yes, two for no."

One cough. Thank the gods.

"Your mom or Asgore around?"

Two coughs.

"Sans?"

Two coughs.

She was growing desperate. "Papyrus?"

Two coughs.

"Anyone?"

Two coughs again. Fuck.

"Ok. Listen close, ok? This is super duper incredibly important. Alright?"

One cough. Bless this child.

"I'm at the police station. I need you to text your mom, or Asgore, or Sans, or Paps, or _somebody,_ anyone that you can get in touch with. I need someone to come to the station, and if you can convince them to, I need them to bring me a clean set of clothes and a different pair of shoes. Anything is fine. I just need to get out of these clothes, and I'm hopefully going to need a ride back to my place soon. Think you can do that, Bud?"

One cough.

"Thanks, Frisk. I'm counting on you."

The line went dead, and Lori handed the phone back to Officer Snead. He glanced at her. "You said 'Frisk", right? Like Frisk Dreemurr, the monster ambassador?"

Lori nodded. "Yeah...why?"

"Ain't that kid mute?"

Lori laughed dryly, her laugh sounding more like a strangled barking. "Yeah. Frisk's number is the only one I have memorized. My phone was refusing to update, and so, for like a week, it kept eating Frisk's contact info when I first got their number. That's the only reason I know it. Everyone else's number is stuck in the evidence lock-up, I assume. Probably next to my shoes."

Snead glanced under the table, and Lori wiggled her toes for effect. He shook his head and looked her in the eyes again, head still shaking. "I could have gone and gotten a number out of your phone for you...you know that, right?"

Lori pursed her lips in surprise. "I...did not. Why else would I have just said 'screw it', and gone ahead and made a phone call to someone who _literally_ can't talk right now. Or ever, for that matter."

He laughed. "Well, hopefully you won't need to know in the future, but now you do, just in case."

Lori stared blankly at him. "Well, you're not wrong."

0-0-0-0-0

Frisk had texted everyone, and got no immediate responses. In a panicked hurry, they bolted out their front door barefoot, and ran up the three flights of stairs to get to Sans and Papyrus' apartment. They beat on the front door with their tiny fists, hoping that maybe, perhaps, Sans was just asleep on the couch, like always.

They gasped silently in relief as they heard shuffled footsteps on the other side of the door after several moments. The deadbolt scraped open and the door creakily followed it, and Frisk burst through the entryway at a dead run, searching the couch for Sans' phone.

"eh? what you lookin' for, kiddo?"

*Phone.

Sans held up his phone, and Frisk hastily turned his hand so that the screen faced him. Looking down at the kid in front of him without moving his phone, Sans got the answer he had needed without asking. Frisk was hastily and repeatedly signing the word for 'message'.

Sans opened the message he had, raising a brow bone in confusion as he saw who it was from. As he read it, his mouth opened slightly, starting to pick up on just why the kid was so freaked out. He slipped his phone in his pocket and turned to frisk as he slipped on his sneakers.

"you know the drill, kid. back home. lock the door behind you, deadbolt too. text your mom to let her know that the deadbolt is locked."

Frisk nodded and headed out the front door just in front of Sans, who ruffled their hair as they passed. "good job on comin' to get me. things are gonna be ok."

Frisk headed down the stairs to do as they were told, and Sans sighed, feeling for a weak spot in reality to take a shortcut to Lorilai's. He found one, and slipped through, finding himself in her living room. ' _heh. least it wasn't the pool.'_

He busied himself with gathering what Frisk had mentioned, keeping an analytical brain, finding a pair of yoga pants, socks, a sports bra, and a tee shirt. He grabbed a pair of running shoes from the rack by the door, stuck it all in a grocery bag, and slipped back to the parking lot of his apartment, and wandered over to his bike. He opened up one of the saddle bags and put the grocery bag inside before snapping the lid shut. He straddled the machine, put away the kick stand, and started to make his way to the station.

0-0-0-0-0

Lori nodded bleakly to her longtime family-friend and lawyer, holding her head in her hands as she grunted out her responses.

A knock on the door brought her back to her senses, and she looked up just in time to see the door open and reveal her worried-looking friend.

She gasped in relief and jolted out of her seat before stopping herself, looking sheepishly at the uniformed man just behind her friend. "Would it be ok if I hugged my friend, Officer Snead?"

A brief nod had her rushing across the interrogation room to cling onto her friend, hugging him tightly, as if her very life depended on it. He froze at the sudden contact before lightly patting her on the back with his free hand. "brought the stuff you asked for."

She sniffled, and thanked him in the quietest voice he had ever heard her use. As quiet as it was, he could still hear the waver in her voice, that tremor that came when someone was on the edge of tears. "what happened?"

She stopped, and shoved him back to look him dead in his eye lights, all traces of mirth replaced by dire seriousness and pain. "Sans, Blooky...he...he got pushed down."

He dropped the bag of her things and stared her dead in the face, the lights leaving his eyes and the pitch of his voice dropping several octaves as he gripped her arms roughly. " **why are you here then?** "

She winced and shied away reflexively, shrinking at his anger. "I...I accidentally killed the guy that attacked us. There's video proof of the entire encounter, I figure. He attacked us in our studio where we do our recordings for MTT's shows, and the landlord is a paranoid jerk, and installed and maintained a ridiculous amount of security cams for a space that small. I...I hadn't been meaning to, as good or bad as that might sound...I didn't think I had hit him that hard. I have basically no upper arm strength. You know me! I can barely even take the trash out if the bag gets too full!"

Sans sighed and pulled her into a hug. "It's ok, kiddo. From what I understand about human law, if there's video that it really was in self-defense, then you're fine."

He looked her over, and smiled reassuringly at her, his eye lights back where they belonged. Her lower lip was quivering. Given everything, and how emotional he knew she was, given her nature, he was surprised that she was still holding herself together.

The officer behind them cleared his throat. "Mr. Aster, if you'd like to follow me to the waiting room? Miss Eidolon, the bathroom is just across the hall, if you'd like to get changed."

Sans shrugged and followed Snead, and Lori picked up the grocery bag and went to the bathroom to get changed. She locked the door behind her and stripped, leaving her dusty clothes in a pile in the corner before turning to the sink and washing the skin that had been exposed as best she could with water and hand soap. Drying off with paper towels, she turned to the bag Sans had brought, and blushed deeply when she noticed a sports bra that had been in her underwear drawer, thanking him silently, and hoping that he hadn't seen too much.

' _Comfy pants, warm socks, and...my favorite tee? I could kiss him.'_

She sighed and packed away her dirty clothes in the bag once her sneakers were on, unlocked the door and stepped outside and went back into the interrogation room, where her lawyer sat waiting.

"You're in luck, kid. The video came back, they showed it to a local judge, and they were apparently told that they don't want to see you in a courtroom over this. You're free to go home once you give a written statement corroborating what happened, which shouldn't be a problem, right?" He pushed forward a pad of paper and a pen.

She sighed and hastily scrawled down her story, signing it, dating it, and handing it back to her lawyer. "Thanks, Roy. You know where to send the bill. Am I clear to just...walk out of here or something?" He nodded. "Good. Laters."

She walked out to the waiting room and found Sans. He blinked at her, not expecting to see her so soon. "you ready?"

"Nah, I need to get-oh, thanks." She took her phone and shoes from the officer that had tapped her on the shoulder. "I'm good. Mind taking me home?"

He shrugged. "sure thing, kiddo."

She followed him out of the building to the parking lot, becoming more numb with every step. He got her bag into the saddlebag, got on, made sure she was situated, and she let him. She was safe now. Sans had her, he wouldn't let anything happen. She could shut down now.

So she did.

He rode through town slowly, taking note of her uncharacteristic silence without her nose in a book. "how you holding up?"

No response. He wasn't surprised.

He stopped at a red light and glanced back. The helmet was still a little askew from where he had had to put it on her, and her grip on him was loose as she stared miles away, ignoring the world, her lips downturned in an emotionless, pouty null. If he was being blunt, she looked like shit. He sighed, turning to watch the light, and moving forward again as it turned green.

He made his way to her place halfway slowly, taking care to make sure that she was stable and safe, given her loose, barely existent grip. The last thing she needed right now was to take a spill off his bike, given everything that had happened today.

The last rays of sunlight peeked out over the ridges of the mountains surrounding their little town, and he shook his head. What he wouldn't give to have this scenario a little different. Riding on the back roads at sunset, sure, with a beautiful girl on his bike, even better. But not a traumatized woman, looking very weak, very young, very insecure. Very broken. Not with someone he knew dead, and his passenger coming to grips not only with the fact that her best friend was dead, but with the he fact that she had been coated with him for who knows how long, and that she was now, herself, a murderer, in a fashion.

In different circumstances, he'd be enjoying himself. But not now.

He knew that in this state, he'd likely have to take care of the person he had so often seen taking care of Frisk, taking care of his brother, and taking care of everyone around her before she took care of herself. He wasn't sure that she'd even be capable of getting off his bike without assistance right now.

He pulled in her long drive, and slowly avoided a slight pothole that was beginning to form in the gravel driveway. "gonna need to get that filled in, kid."

No response. He'd probably come out later and rearrange the disheveled gravel to fill the mud puddle back in.

He pulled to a stop in front of her garage, lowered his kickstand, and stepped off his bike, assessing the situation. He shook his head, helping her off the bike, taking off the helmet, and guiding her to the back gate. She took small, shuffling steps, and he nodded as she made progress towards the house that he deemed acceptable, a hand on her back and one on her arm to keep her stable.

He paused for a moment and unlocked the gate to her house, remembering the passcode on the lock thanks to the clue of "don't forget" scratched very distinctively into the wooden gate-a memorable reference to FullMetal Alchemist. She had convinced him to watch initially just to get her to shut up, but by the third episode, he had been hooked, and his spree was now out of her control.

He guided her through the open gate and across the yard to the patio. Another door to open. Another door to guide her through. He sighed as he closed and locked the sliding door behind them. At least she was in the house now.

He looked her over. She still had some runny eyeliner on her face, and there was what looked to be some dust in her hair. "lori?"

Her eyes refocuse slightly. "lore?"

She looked around slightly, and her voice came out as more of a croak than anything. "H-home?"

He nodded. "think you can shower?" She nodded slowly. "i'll let you get to that, then. i'll go ahead and make you some tea."

She shuffled towards her bathroom and he slipped off his wet sneakers before making his way into the kitchen. He had a feeling that he was going to be here a while. Putting the kettle on to boil, he pulled out his phone and texted Papyrus.

[gonna be here a while, bro. stay with tori tonight.]

[paps: IS THE HUMAN QUITE ALRIGHT? NO ONE HAS GOTTEN A RESPONSE FROM HER PHONE YET AND WE ARE ALL RATHER WORRIED.]

[napstablook got pushed down earlier. lori killed the guy that attacked them on accident. was video of the whole thing on security cams. she looks uninjured, at any rate.]

[i'll call you later when she's doing better.]

He flicked his phone onto silent and slipped it in his pocket, pulling the kettle off the fire and finishing the tea. Her favorite tea, in her favorite mug. He left it on the counter and went to check on her, hearing the water shut off with a squeak. He nodded, returning to the kitchen to poke around in her fridge, finding six 'drinking bottles' of ketchup in the door of the fridge.

' _hadn't i cleaned out her stock of ketchup for me last time i was here?'_

He shrugged and grabbed a bottle, closing the door and twisting off the cap before taking a swig. Shuffling footsteps alerted him to Lori's arrival, and he turned to see her shuffling towards the kitchen in an oversized tee. He pointed towards the living room, shaking his head and grabbing her mug of tea with his free hand.

He moved to the living room fairly quickly, setting down his ketchup to wrap her hands around the bright orange mug. Her expression was still fairly blank, but she was at least somewhat conscious. He grabbed one of the blankets off the couch and wrapped it around her shoulders, and draped the other over her lap, tucking her in gently. He sat down in the recliner she generally took, not wanting to disturb her on the love seat, and watched her as he slowly sipped on his drink.

"how you holding up?"

She slowly looked his way, but gave no response. He nodded. "that well, huh?"

She looked down at her drink slowly and took a sip. "Yeah."

He nodded. "you get hurt in the fight?"

"Physically?"

He shrugged. "sure. physically. i can already tell that you aren't holding up well emotionally, but there ain't much i can do 'bout that one."

"Then no. I'm uninjured."

He shook his head at her cold, almost robotic tone. "damn, kid."

"I'm not a kid."

He looked over at her questioningly.

"I was born in 199X. I'm not a kid."

He blinked. "i guess not. what would you like me to call you then?"

She paused, the wheels in her head turning almost visibly as she stared into her tea. Looking up, she deadpanned, and her answer was flat. "Not kid."

He laughed. "alright then, lorilai. you think on that and give me your answer when you're ready."

She took another drink of her tea. He looked her over for what felt like the millionth time. "what was it you said to tori once? 'the bags under your eyes could carry groceries'?" She blinked. "when you're done with your tea, I should get you in bed, or paps n tori will have my head."

She frowned noticeably compared to the downturned pouty null that her lips had pretty much been frozen in since he got her out of the precinct. "yeah?"

"Will you stay?"

He blinked. "Like...in your room with you?"

She looked down. "I don't want to be alone, right now." Her voice cracked as she held back tears. He nodded.

"ok. i'll stay."

0-0-0-0-0

Sans groaned as the first of the rays of light stabbed at his vision, but even worse was the obnoxious, near constant ring of the doorbell chime. Slipping out of Lori's bed carefully to avoid waking her, he grumbled as he stalked through the hall and up the stairs to get the door.

"d'you know what fuckin' _hour_ it is? the hell do you _want?"_

"It happens to be ten o'seven in the morning, Sans Seraf Aster, and I will thank you not to take that tone with me. I'll forgive you, in light of recent events, but _really_ , Sans." Toriel admonished, snapping Sans straight out of his groggy agitation. "Where is Lorilai?"

"asleep, last i knew. in her bed."

Toriel nodded. "Good. I've brought groceries and a few other things. Help me carry things inside."

Sans shrugged and did as he was told, letting the motherly goat-woman take charge. He certainly wasn't about to stand in her way.

0-0-0-0-0

She hadn't eaten in three days, and had barely left her bed. She barely drank, but took the tea Sans would bring her without comment. He would sit with her, slipping away to eat and such while she slept, making sure that he was back before she woke up.

He kept the others there informed about her status, trying to keep the horde off of her for as long as possible.

Napstablook's death had affected everyone differently. Everyone was showing signs of wear, but the two that were handling things the worst were Lorilai and Mettaton. While Lorilai was in complete emotional lockdown, none in and none out, Mettaton was feeling every emotion he possibly could about the situation, seemingly going through all five stages of grief at once.

"ARE YOU CERTAIN THE HUMAN DOES NOT NEED TO EAT?"

"'m tellin' ya paps, I looked it up. they're surprisingly sturdy, but if she doesn't eat soonish, we gotta force her or take her to the hospital."

A light thump and the sound of a door sliding across carpet made the whole house fall silent. Light footsteps sounded up the hallway, and Sans jumped into action, sliding down the bannister to support her on her way up the stairs. Her legs as shaky as they were, she was grateful for the help.

As they crested the stairs, she assessed the state of the main floor of her house. It was full to bursting with members of the monster community. She locked eyes with only one, though, and made a beeline, unsupported, to hug him. Her voice sounded scratchy, almost foreign to her as she apologized to Mettaton as he sobbed into her shoulder. Try as she might, she couldn't hold the tears off any longer. Her emotional dam shattered, and the cascade of tears behind it followed.

She heard stifled gasps from a few others in the room, and heard their whispers, but ignored them. Until, that is, Sans said her name.

"look at me, lori. i need to see your tears."

She blinked and stared at him, her eyes watering as she sniffled. "Y-yeah?"

His eyes went wide with shock, and he swore, pulling her soul out of her chest. She wheezed slightly at the sudden pull, but recovered quickly.

"What the fuck, Sans?" She glared.

He held up a hand, staring at her soul. "'what the fuck' is right." He pointed at her soul. "care to explain?"

She looked down at her soul, only now realizing the room had gone quiet in shock. When she saw her soul, she understood why. Her jaw dropped as she stared at the small heart floating in front of her.

Vivid green, glowing softly like something out of the land of OZ stood before her, but only on half.

The other half, distinctly different, shone a deep, royal blue. In the middle, the two mixed and intermingled lightly, creating an odd teal seam. Her mouth moved as though to speak, but it couldn't find the words to say.

Sans cleared his throat. "well? care to explain the silver in your soul?"

She looked at him oddly, her brows knitted in confusion. "What?"

"you heard me."

"There's no silver there, Sans. Only blue. Dark blue."

He stopped, clearly confused. "what?"

"I'm telling you, Sans," she reiterated, "there's no silver there. There's green," she pointed to one half, "and dark blue," she stated, pointing again.

Undyne shook her head. "No, nerd, there ain't. It's green and white."

Lori stared at Undyne. "I know my colors, damnit."

Sans held out a hand and grabbed in Undyne's general direction, pulling her soul from her chest. "what color?"

Lori rolled her eyes. "Yellow."

Sans repeated the process with Alphys, again met with protest by the soul's owner. "again."

"Dark blue"

"again"

"Orange"

" **again.** "

Lori teared up at his tone and began crying again. "Green, Jesus Christ, Sans, do you really think I'm _lying_ to you?"

"That is enough, Sans."

He turned. "tori…"

She glared. "No, Sans. At this point, it is clear she can now see something that we cannot. My child, how did your soul become so...divided?"

Lori sniffled, rubbing at her eyes with her hands As she blubbered out her answer. "Wh-wh-when B-B-Blooky...g-g-got hurt...h-h-he managed t-to get through th-th-the w-wall...and h-he t-t-t-told m-me th-that th-the a-a-assh-hole th-that k-k-k-killed h-him c-c-couldn't g-get h-his s-s-s-soul...a-a-and th-then he sh-sh-shoved i-it i-in m-m-my ch-che-he-hest."

The collective gasp did nothing to put her at ease, nor did Alphys' mentioning of 'tests'. Toriel quickly wrapped her in a mother's warm embrace, and carried her over to the couch where she began to cuddle Lori and stroke her hair as she cried, attempting to soothe her no differently than she would soothe any other child.

Eventually, the tears stopped, and Toriel began to speak softly, still holding Lori tight and petting her hair. "My child...as far as I can tell, when your friend gave you his soul right before death, he somehow managed to fuse it with your own. In an attempt to keep his soul from someone that was evidently one of the ones going around and stealing monster magic for their own gain, he gave you a gift that only the closest of monsters receive; the gift of another's magic."

Toriel sighed. "Normally, it is given freely and accepted willingly, but only part of our magic is given, not our whole soul. I am sure, however, that he was doing what he felt was right. Just as I am certain that he did not do this in any way to hurt you."

Lori looked up at the motherly monster tearily, her tears giving off a faint blue glow in the dimmed lighting of the room. "What's going to happen to me now?"

Toriel frowned. "I cannot say for certain, my child. But I do know that in the immediate future...I am going to go make us some lunch. How does that sound?"

Lori nodded softly. "But in the long term?"

Toriel hesitated. "I suppose you have now become the newest official member of our community. We will have to keep an eye on you for your health, since I'm not really sure that we know what will happen to you because of the fusion, but you will have the support of the community in adjusting."

Sans stood off in a corner, watching the exchange warily. He wasn't sure how things were going to go now, but he knew, more than anything, that if shit went sideways, he would be ready to make sure that Lorilai Eidolon would have one _hell_ of a **bad time.**


	5. Family Ties

**DISCLAIMER: Don't own Undertale. I also am making no efforts to conceal product names, and this isn't endorsed by a darn thing. So there.**

Chapter FOUR

Frisk rolled their eyes as they got out of their mother's car. Lori had the amp cranked again, and probably hadn't been able to hear her phone for the past few hours, which is why Toriel and Frisk had even had to volunteer to come check on her to begin with.

It was now October 13th, and Lori was adjusting as well as could be expected after only a month. Which, as it turned out, included trying to destroy her eardrums on a regular basis as she turned to 90s punk rock melodies on a guitar while singing as loudly as she possibly could to get some kind of musically-triggered catharsis to help beat back the intense vortex of depression that threatened to drag her down into its undefined depths.

If Frisk wasn't mistaken, today was an Eve 6 kind of day, and prepared for the sound to be much, much louder once they got the door open. Lori had decided that her closest friends would be allowed to have keys to get into her house in the event that they needed to check on her for some reason, though the unspoken invitation to just come over whenever had been plain. A key for Toriel, a key each for Sans and Papyrus, a key for Alphys and Undyne to share, and a key for Mettaton provided that he swore to not try to renovate or redecorate without her explicit permission.

Pulling out their key, Frisk worked on unlocking the lock, scrabbling a bit because of their height and inability to fully see the lock. Toriel walked up behind them, a few grocery bags in hand, and giggled softly. "Are you quite alright, my child?"

The music coming from inside stopped suddenly, and after a few moments, the door opened. "Tori? Frisk? Whatcha doin' here?"

Toriel blinked in shock for a brief moment before shrugging off her surprise. "No one had heard from you in several hours, and it is not like you to leave messages unanswered. Frisk and I volunteered to come check on you. I have brought the ingredients to make pie."

Lori smiled and scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry. Music was kinda loud and I didn't feel the vibrations of my phone. Heard something scraping on the lock, though, so I thought I'd come check it out. Sorry about that. Still learning my new limits. Kinda weird all the things I can hear now. Kinda explains how Blooks did some of the things with music that he managed to do."

*It's ok.

"Yeah, I'll get the hang of things eventually. C'mon in." Lori took part of the bags from Toriel and opened the door further before heading up the stairs and dropping the bags off in the kitchen.

Toriel and Frisk followed, Tori busying herself about making the pie and Frisk following Lori into the living room staring wide eyed at the guitar on the love seat. Lori picked it up and began to put it away, stopping as Frisk pulled on her shorts. "Yeah, kiddo?"

Frisk rolled their eyes and smiled.

*You sound like Uncle Sans. Do you think you could teach me?

Lori paused as she slowly translated in her head, slowly grunting in surprise when she figured out the full sentence. "I guess I kinda do, and you want to learn guitar?"

Frisk nodded, and Lori shrugged. "Piano might be a bit easier to learn at first, just so you get a good idea of the notes and whatnot. Frisk shrugged.

*Do you have a piano then?

Lori scoffed, smiling at the small child near her before finishing putting away the guitar in the stand by the amp. "Of course I do. C'mon."

Lori guided Frisk down the stairs and opened the door at the end of the hall that was still unknown to Frisk. Aside from the piano and several other instruments, there was a fireplace, two couches and several recliners, a computer, an extra-wide-screened television, surround sound system, and several gaming consoles. "Welcome to the den, Frisk. I don't care if you come in here alone, so long as you're careful. And if you want to play a game, ask your mother first. Not all of the games I have down here are kid-friendly." They nodded.

Lori opened up the cover on the piano and sat down, patting the space on the bench beside her. Frisk slid on to the seat and watched in awe as Lori began expertly plucking out a tune on the ivory keys, moving slowly at first, before letting her fingers dance rapidly across the keys. She came to a sudden stop, taking Frisk's hands in her own, helping Frisk play the slower intro to try to get them accustomed to the feel.

Lori didn't notice the short figure watching her in the doorway, happily absorbed in spending time with the child.

0-0-0-0-0

"Well, darling, when you think about it, since you have his magic now, that means that we're cousins. Isn't it _exciting?_ "

Lori sighed and pointed at Mettaton with her fork. "I'm not really sure the transient property applies to familial relations like this, Haps."

The flamboyant robot pouted at her. "Are you certain, darling?"

Lori sighed. "I suppose given everything that I've learned about monster physiology and such in recent months that it could be possible. If you would really prefer to consider me to be your family, then I guess I could roll with it."

Mettaton squealed girlishly and hugged her, squeezing the air out of her and making her drop her fork. Lori batted at his arm, unable to get enough breath to tell MTT that he was crushing her. He caught the hint and let her go, blushing as she inhaled sharply. "Sorry about that."

She waved him off and picked up her fork, setting it on the table. "It's fine."

He smiled at her, resting his head on his hand. "So. When are you performing at my show next?"

Lori frowned. "I don't really think I should on my own. It...it'll feel wrong."

"Darling, I insist. The best way to get over tragedies like this is to accept them and move on."

Lori sighed. "I'll think about it. Thanks for lunch, honey. Gonna head to the grocery store, then probably head home." She got up and waved as she walked off of the patio at Muffet's, heading to the parking lot not too far away.

As she got in her car and turned the key, both the engine and her sound system roared to life. Some 80s glam metal blared out the speakers, and Lori dropped her sun visor, pulling the car into reverse and out of the parking lot.

The drive to the grocery store was fairly short and uneventful, and she was thankful for the break. Her 'cousin' was certainly something else, but was actually a fairly decent, fun, tolerable person. But he was also exhausting, and wore her down to the paint that she would need a nap after a few hours with him.

She found herself a parking spot that was both halfway far from the door under a security camera, and pulled in, rolling up her windows and putting up her sun visor before shutting off the engine. She grabbed her phone, keys and patted her pocket to make sure she still had her wallet before exiting her car and locking the doors.

Looking towards the asphalt due to the brightness of the sun, which had been bothering her eyes more and more of late, she began walking towards the store, stopping as she noticed a strange, amorphous black slime. Following the slime upward with her eyes, she found herself staring in horror at the figure before her, his cracked ivory face and open, slack, chilling smile chilling her to her core.

 ***YOU...NEED...HELP.**

She took a step back, preparing to dart off, despite the heels that she had worn out to avoid a scolding from Mettaton. "I need help?"

* **ME...G-A-S-T-E-R. NEED...HELP.**

Still tense, she nodded. "You need help, then? G...Gaster, is it?"

A nod. She swallowed hard. "What do you need help with?"

"HEY PUNK!"

Lori whipped her head in the direction of the familiar voice, seeing Undyne, and turned back to face Gaster, only to see no one. Her jaw dropped, and she rubbed her eyes. We're the damn things playing tricks on her now too? She turned back and smiled at Undyne. "'Sup, Undyne?"

"Oh, nothing much. Alphys sent me out to get groceries. Didn't even yell at any of the other drivers on the way over here. FUHUHUHU! Pretty great, right?"

Lori held up her hand, Undyne slapping it forcefully. "So what's with the heels _, girly-girl_?"

Lori rolled her eyes. "Nice digs are cuz of lunch with Metta. Didn't feel like getting bitched at. You wanna go ahead and shop with me?"

The two shrugged and headed towards the store together, and went about their shopping.

0-0-0-0-0

"No, I did _not_ just buy junk food. It was _not_ just popato chisps. No, Tori, I bought real food too. Yes, I mean monster food. That's real food. Yes, as opposed to junk food."

She put away several bags of popato chisps, all in different flavors. And two different pints of nice cream.

"No, I know that I can just add Temmie Flakes to a human recipe to make it monster food. I've been doing that for a while for when you guys come over." She shifted the phone to her other ear and put a few more groceries away. "Yes, _Mom_ , I know that I need to eat magical food for at least half of my diet. I figured that I'd just make a full conversion for the most part. No, that was only half-sarcastic. Yeeeees, I knooooooow. Sorry. Yes, ma'am."

She grabbed a few more things to put away, slipping them onto shelves. "Uh huh. Will do. Ok, I'm gonna finish putting this stuff away, I'll call you if I need anything. Ok. Bye-bye!"

Lori sighed and finished putting away her groceries, shoving the plastic bags into the bag she had for plastic bags. She paused, looking around her kitchen for a few moments before grabbing a monster soda and a bag of chisps, taking them with her to the couch where she flopped, sitting upside down and cross-legged. She popped a chisp in her mouth and groped aimlessly for the remote, finding it and turning the television on, finding an episode of a show she followed.

"ain't that a rerun?"

Lori jumped, nearly spilling her drink and succeeding in spilling her chisps in the process. "Damnit, Sans. Do I have to put a bell on you?"

"nope."

She sighed. "'Suh, dude?"

"hiding from paps. he's wanting me to clean."

She laughed. "Oooooh, _scary._ Wouldn't want to have to that, now would we. Eh, whatever, man. Cop a squat. Might be a rerun, but it's still good."

She resumed her position, and stretched her arm out to offer Sans some chisps, which he silently declined. She shrugged, and ate another.

"so how you handling things?"

She winced. Course it wasn't just hiding from Paps.

"Good, I guess?"

"mind if i go ahead and look at your soul then?"

She sighed and shrugged. "Whatever. If you really have to."

He pulled her soul and nodded. The seam was widening slightly, and it made him nervous. ' _it's still fusing?'_

Lori paused, not wanting to say anything, but eventually, curiosity and the desire to ensure she was still healthy won out. "You seem nervous."

He scoffed. "you're something new, something we don't really have any experience with. the last time something like you happened, the prince died."

Lori nodded. "Yeah...i spoke with Asriel and Frisk about that. They told me about... _them._ And everything that _they_ did. Are you sure that that wasn't just because their determination was far stronger than Asriel's, and that they were a bad egg to begin with?"

Sans paused. "we can't say that for certain. you do make a valid point, however. if that is actually the case, it would explain why you maintained control, and why you haven't-"

"Gone on a psychopathic murderous rampage?"

Sans glared at her, his eye lights fading. "it isn't funny."

"At least you still give enough of a shit to hate me and suspect me like this."

He paused. "they...they told you about that too?"

Lori snorted. "Asriel was very adamant that I keep an eye out for 'that smiley trashbag', because you'd likely try to dust me...or whatever the hell I'll do at this point. Probably still rot, since I'm still pretty corporeal."

Sans sighed. "i just don't want a repeat of...of past events."

Lori nodded. "I understand. And if I do snap...thanks in advance for putting me down. Ok? I doubt I'd thank you if I needed put down, so…"

He nodded.

She frowned. "Anyway...you mind putting that back?"

He sent her soul back into her body, and she nodded in thanks.

She couldn't help but feel like Sans only put up with her existence because her brother considered her a friend. He never really gave her any evidence to the contrary, and she knew that he had been keeping a wary eye on her since she had met him, and it had only gotten worse in the past month.

"question."

She looked over and grunted softly. "why do you sound different than the other humans around here?"

She blinked. "You seriously don't know? Didn't you have regional accents in the Underground?"

"nope."

' _Just how fuckin' small was the Underground anyway?'_

"Well, I grew up on the other half of the country, down south. Moved here to live with my papaw when I was about 10. My mom died when I was real little, and my dad wasn't really the best suited to raising a lil kid, so he gave me to my mom's dad.

"When my papaw died several years ago, my dad came out here and moved in with me, since I now had a house of my own, and he was renting, and I needed a guardian because I was under 18. My dad met some chick here locally, and she didn't like me, and the feeling was mutual. She kept trying to convince my dad to 'just get rid of' me, and so he tried to kick me out of my own house on my 18th birthday. I called the lawyer that you saw with me in the interrogation room last month, n he said that, according to the will of Eoghan Niall Eidolon, the house was mine, and that that rat bastard had no bloody right to it. So he and his skank girlfriend moved out because I wasn't willing to let her be on the property and told dad that if he kept it up that I'd charge his lazy ass rent. They went across the country again, so they could mooch off of his dad."

Sans grunted. "why's your dad like that?"

Lori shrugged. "Because he's scum. Why? What's your dad like?"

She watched as he shifted uncomfortably. "I don't...I don't want to talk about it."

She nodded. "Fair enough."

He stared blankly at the television, clearly done with talking in general. Lori sighed and turned her attention back to the show as well, not paying any mind as Sans fidgeted with something in the pocket of his hoodie. Little did she know that he was absentmindedly playing with the steel plate embedded into his right hand, trying to forget what he remembered of the past.

0-0-0-0-0

"Focus, my child."

Lori's brow furrowed over intently closed eyes as she searched herself, trying to find what Toriel had only been able to describe as 'a warmth'. Lori wasn't sure that she would be able to handle monster magic consciously, but it was clear that she did have at least some of Blooky's magic, her eyes having shifted from amber to iridescent blue, while her tears, and occasionally other bodily fluids, came with a glowing blue sheen. This morning, she had woken up to glowing blue drool on her pillow and the left half of her face. The magic had taken some time to evaporate, but she could at least say that her pillow was no longer glowing.

When Toriel had accidentally cut herself while chopping broccoli, the goat woman had suggested trying to heal her with magic, given the lack of severity.

Lori growled softly in frustration. "I'm sorry, Tori, I just can't find what you're describing."

She nodded in understanding. "It's quite alright, my child. You're still learning, and you'll find it eventually."

Lori sighed and looked at the woman across from her sadly. "Sorry I couldn't help. Want me to go get a...never mind. If it hurts with the little bit of hair I have, it would be hell for you. Sorry."

Tori chuckled and took a bite out of one of the cinnamon bunnies that Lori had bought about an hour earlier. "It's quite alright, dear. See? No damage." She held up her paw for inspection.

"Well, there's that at least. Back to Thanksgiving prep?"

Toriel nodded. "I am glad that you offered your home for this celebration. We certainly would not all fit in any of our other homes, as many of us as there are."

Lori laughed. "It's ok. I'm a sucker for any holiday that lets me gorge myself until I pass out from a food coma."

Toriel's eyes widened a bit. "You are certain that putting yourself into such a severe medical condition is wise?"

Lori snorted as she busted out laughing. "It's a turn of phrase. It just means that you're so full that you fall asleep. It has to do with the way human digestion systems work. I used to crawl under the dinner table to sleep when I was little." She paused. "Course, I also used to smack my lil cousins and the dogs in the head with my turkey legs when they would come sniffing at my plate. So...there's that. Can't trust a five year old to not pull stunts like that."

Toriel laughed and nodded. "That I can understand. Frisk can be absolutely rotten."

"Yeah, but Frisk is absolutely adorable."

"This is true." Toriel walked back into the kitchen, and Lori followed, pulling out her phone and docking it in her iHome.

"Any requests?" Toriel shrugged and Lori shrugged in response, putting on her Mystery Skulls station on Pandora. A catchy electro-funk tune came up, and the two went about their preparations.

The house already smelled wonderful, Toriel making sure to make her special cinnamon-butterscotch pie, and Lori making sure to keep her cheesecakes and her pumpkin chiffon pie perfect, as always. The younger woman readily admitted that she was a perfectionist, but that it was also beneficial in some instances, like with anything she cooked, because thanks to her laziness, she made damn sure that when she cooked something, she cooked it right the first time.

A brief knock on the door announced someone's arrival, and they opened the door moments later, and announced themselves verbally.

"WOWWIE, HUMAN, YOUR HOME SMELLS DELICIOUS!"

"yeah, i have to agree with paps. what is that?"

Lori walked out of the kitchen and dusted the flour off her hands onto her apron. "Well, there's five kinds of pie, three cheesecakes, mashed potatoes, ham, turkey, cranberry salad, stuffing, gravy with and without giblets, green beans, asparagus, broccoli salad, and a few other things. So I'd have to say that 'thanksgiving dinner' is probably your best bet."

They nodded and sat at the dining room table across from the entrance to the kitchen. "WE HAVE BROUGHT THE SPAGHETTI."

The stomping of small feet up the stairs caught their attention, and Lori frowned at the glare on Frisk's face. "'samatta, grumpy-gus?"

*After an hour, the cake was a lie.

Lori fought back a laugh. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Want to play a different game? Or are you done right now?"

Frisk crossed their arms and glared towards the living room, signing with a single hand.

*So done. What's on TV?

"Uh...probably the parade, maybe some other crap...nobody shows anything good on Thanksgiving really. We could pick out a DVD or blu-ray, or maybe there's something on Netflix?"

Frisk shrugged and stalked off towards the couch. "Tori, you have everything under control for a few?"

Toriel waved her hand dismissively. "We're almost done here anyway, Lorilai dear, go ahead and take your apron off. You've done more than enough already."

Lori smiled softly and gave a half-shrug before slipping off her apron, tossing it in a nearby laundry basket. "Aight. Cool beans."

She joined Frisk in the living room, the two skeletons following and finding their usual seats. "By the way, Sans, I picked up a butt-ton of ketchup for you. Thought you might enjoy that."

He looked towards her with his perpetual, lazy grin plastered on his face. "ya know, y-is that an ouroboros?"

Lori busted out laughing. "I am genuinely shocked that you haven't noticed my tattoo till just now. Shall I assume that the others have gone unnoticed as well?"

He shrugged. "maybe. how bout you show 'em off, just in case."

Lori rolled her eyes as she stood up, pointing to each piece in turn. "Right. So there's my sloth ouroboros, my elder scrolls dragon and daedric symbol, this conjoined sun and moon on my shoulder, the triforce, the fairytail guild mark here on my thigh, my elvish script here, my cherry blossoms and hummingbird moth here on my forearm, and I also have my full back piece, and something under my breasts. Serious, dude, how have you noticed _none_ of them."

He blinked. "i really don't know."

She shook her head. "You just weren't paying attention. My ears are also pierced. So now you know." She turned her head to exhibit her multiple lobe and cartilage piercings, and her daith piercing in her right ear. He shrugged.

Papyrus raised a finger questioningly, speaking up softly. "But what is your back tattoo, human?"

Lori blushed and sighed before looking over at Frisk. "Cover your eyes, kid."

Frisk arched an eyebrow but did what they were told. Lori turned around and peeled off her tube top and tossed it on the couch before unhooking her bra and holding it out of the way. "See?"

Papyrus and Sans stared open-mouthed at the bold black ink detailing an hourglass that ended in fanged, anatomically correct, hyper-detailed skulls, the support beams formed by four hyper-realistic femurs, two on each side, fused at the ball and tied around the neck with twine. Bat wings, oriented upside down and again, done hyper realistically, stretched out from the joints, across her sides, forming the base for her under-breast tattoo, which wasn't visible from their angle.

"Are you two done ogling my favorite piece yet?"

After getting nothing but a faint squeak in response, she rolled her eyes and began to get dressed again.

"W-wowwie. What did that to you?"

Lori sat down, uncovering Frisk's eyes now that there was no chance that they'd see anything. Sans was still sitting in a stunned silence. "A, uh, tattoo artist?"

Papyrus didn't seem to understand. "How are these tattoos made, then?"

Lori blinked. "I guess it _wouldn't_ be something you know, after all. Ok. So, you know human skin, right? Well, there's three layers to it. The top, which is made of dead cells and protects us and seals water in, the middle, where tattoo ink goes and where there are living cells that grow up and move towards the top layer as those cells flake off, and the bottom, where the cells are 'born', essentially, and where our skin sticks to the muscle and such underneath it. A tattoo artist will take a super fine, hollow needle, and inject ink into that middle layer to make a picture. And that's how tattoos are made, essentially."

Sans piped up, finally. "why doesn't the ink go away as the cells get replaced?"

Lori nodded. "When the ink is injected, it ultimately ends up between the cells, so the new cells just move around the ink for the most part."

"huh. cool."

The front door slammed open, and Undyne bellowed at the top of her lungs that she and Alphys had arrived, sprinting up the stairs and rounding the corner into the living room. "Mettaton is right behind us, by the way." Lori nodded and waved.

"What about Asgore? Anyone heard from him yet?"

Toriel popped out of the kitchen and dusted herself off. "He had texted me not too long ago to announce his departure from his apartment."

"Cool beans." Lori got up and went to the kitchen to check her phone. "I've got texts from Muffy and Grillbs saying that they're on their way too. Muff said she had Shyren with her, and the dogs should also be on their way as well. Once everyone else is here we can-"

"Lori darling, I'm he-ere!" She rolled her eyes at his sing-songs tone.

"'Sup, cuz? What's... _Hapsta-nin'_?

Several people groaned and she peered around the corner into the living room with a shit-eating grin that spread from ear to ear.

"REALLY, HUMAN, MUST YOU?"

She deadpanned. "Yes, Paps, I must."

Sans shook his head. "that was a good one, i'll admit."

Lori quickly embraced Mettaton and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Glad you could make it."

"Glad to be here, darling, really."

She nodded and plopped down on the couch. "What you thinkin' 'bout watchin', scooterpup?"

Frisk shrugged, still scrolling through choices on Netflix. Everyone was in the living room, talking softly among themselves or watching the options Frisk scrolled through. Alphys was getting excited at every anime choice, Undyne skeptical about the ones that didn't look like they'd have much action. Frisk paused over a movie called "Stardust" and looked at Lori questioningly.

"It's a pretty good movie, and I personally would say that it's halfway age appropriate. Go ahead."

Frisk put the movie on and sat the remote off to the side, staring intently at the television. They seemed thoroughly invested in the movie, jumping slightly at the first death. Asgore and the others arrived en masse a few moments later, so the movie was paused, and the group gathered in the dining room.

Lori cleared her throat and clasped her hands in front of herself nervously. "This is a day about giving thanks. About spending time with family, and close friends, and loved ones. Lots of humans forget about the thankfulness, and stick to stuffing their faces with food and planning where they're going to spend way too much money the next day, not taking a moment to be thankful for what they already have. And while the eatin' part is great too, and we're sure as hell gonna get to that bit in a few, I'm sure that we all have a lot to be thankful for. For starters, that we all were well enough to be able to be here today, and that we have each other.

"I can honestly say that I consider everyone in this room some kind of family. You all hold a very special place in my heart. I...I don't know if I'd be adjusting as well as I am, or if I'd even still be here, if it weren't for all of the love and support I've gotten from all of you. So thank you, all of you. You are all what I am most thankful for this Thanksgiving. Truly."

Lori clapped her hands together and smiled. "Right! Enough of the sappy hoopla. E'rry body take a seat so's we can eats!"

The dining room table, which had been extended to the max length with all five leaves, was extended even further with two additional card tables. Frisk sat between Lori and Toriel, and Toriel was beside Asgore, tittering softly as he said something to her. Alphys and Papyrus were on either side of Undyne, and Mettaton had taken the end next to Papyrus. The dogs were all in a row, and everyone else was seated fairly heater-skelter. Grillby was the last to be seated as he finished bringing the last of the food out, and took the last available space, the one to Lori's right.

Sans watched Lori in between bites and drinks. The surrounding conversations made a fair amount of noise, and he couldn't pick out which one was specifically hers, but he could see her talking happily with the fire elemental, who was crackling warmly beside her. Sans thought it was odd to see his normally reserved friend being so open with someone, but was glad to see him seemingly happy. While he was still wary of Lori, he trusted her enough to not do anything stupid while he was in plain sight, watching her openly.

Granted, she hadn't tried anything as of yet, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't. He remembered all too well how easily Frisk had strayed down the wrong path. Sometimes, nothing much came of it. Other times, however? Genocide, or as close as the child could come to it.

0-0-0-0-0

The chorus of greetings as the door opened caused Grillby to glance up from the glass he was drying, resuming his task when he saw Sans approaching the bar.

"grillbs."

"Sans." He reached under the counter and pulled out a bottle of ketchup for his friend.

"thanks. say, what were you n lori talking 'bout the other day. you seemed to really be enjoying yourself." Sans grinned. "you got a thing for the human?"

Grillby's rolled his eyes, put the glass up, and began to dry another. "She reminds me of someone. While it's nice, she's not for me. Too painful." A small, sad smile formed on his features.

Sans nodded. "'m sorry. didn't know she reminded you of kaylen."

"The usual, old friend?"

Sans nodded. "yeah. paps is watching frisk for tori tonight, so i'm on m' own for dinner tonight."

"Doesn't Lori normally watch Frisk?"

Sans shrugged. "she was busy or somthin' tonight."

0-0-0-0-0

Lori gave a soft sneeze and rubbed her nose With her unoccupied hand. "Someone must be talking about me." She finished putting away her athame and boline in the small granite chest on her altar and replaced the candles in her storage space inside the marble structure. She gently wrapped her crystals in their silk and nestled them in the granite chest next to the small silver blades before closing it gently and placing it next to the candles within the altar and closing the small doors that concealed the storage space.

The full moon hung low and beautifully in the sky, and the late November chill finally seeped deep into Lorilai's joints. "To shower, or to draw down the moon and _then_ shower?"

She stood and turned towards her house, tired of the cold, gasping in surprise at the eerie figure there, the moonlight reflecting off the pale bones of it's damaged skull and hands, seemingly suspended over a black void that absorbed the night around it as much as possible. Lori fought back her startles scream and swallowed the lump that had formed in the back of her throat. "G-Gaster?"

 ***NEED HELP. YOU HELP.**

Lori nodded slowly. "What do you need help with? You seem less sluggish than last time."

 ***YOUR SOUL MORE FUSED. EASIER TO SEE ME.**

Lori nodded. "Ok. I guess I can understand that. What do you need help with?"

 ***MADE MISTAKE LONG AGO. WANT FORGIVENESS.**

"Forgiveness from whom? I only just met you recently, so it can't be me."

 ***MY...SONS.**


	6. Secret Sins

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Undertale. Again with any brands, it's cuz I'm lazy.**

Chapter FIVE

Lori glared at nothing in particular with unfocused eyes as she drank her first cup of coffee for the day in an oversized tee shirt and a pair of basketball shorts that hung loosely on her frame. Her bangs, shockingly white in contrast to the rest of her hair which was still her natural color, a rich blue-black, stuck out at odd angles, jutting out in places. The rest of her hair was a disheveled mess as well, but the fact that she was finally getting around to taking care of the several inches of roots on her severely faded neon bangs was doing her no favors on lessening her bed head.

She had slept worth shit, getting plagued again by memories that weren't her own in place of dreams. Saying that she was in a foul mood was a drastic understatement, and Sans wasn't helping.

Bright and early, the same general time as always, she perceived his aura, spiking suddenly into existence, and she heard the door to her refrigerator open quietly, and then shut again just as quietly a few moments later. As usual, he was insistent about watching her from the shadows, supposedly out of her perception as to not around each her suspicions.

She had been making sure to keep a decent supply of ketchup in her fridge, figuring that Sans was just surveying her to make sure that someone would be able to respond quickly in case something negative happened to her because of her fusing soul. That supposition, however, was wearing thin, and she only kept her fridge stocked out of politeness and the faint hope that he might eventually realize that he could just as easily survey her out in the open, and try being legitimately friendly.

Now, she suspected, he was simply being a paranoid pain in her ass, and had no real desire to legitimately be her friend. She took another long swig of her coffee and wiped the sleep from her eye. "Hey Siri. Put my morning playlist on shuffle, please."

"Now playing…"

The first few cords to "Highway to Hell" played through her speakers, and the corners of her mouth turned upward slightly. She sighed, poured herself another cup of coffee and grabbed the EZ-Squeeze bottle of Heinz, opening it and squirting a liberal amount of ketchup on her omelette.

After a few bites, she cleared her throat and took another drink of coffee. "You want some breakfast? It's pretty early, and you've only had a drink so far." Her eyes flicked over to the wall Sans was hiding behind as she smirked.

Several minutes went by, and Lori continued eating, glancing over to where Sans was every now and then. She rolled her eyes as his aura blipped out of existence. ' _Jerk.'_

She finished her food, took her dishes to the sink and rinsed them, then grabbed her yoga mat by the sliding glass door, and headed outside.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans sat on the couch in the apartment that he shared with his brother, staring off into space with wide eyes. ' _how long had she known i was there? how long has she known that I've been watching her? is that why she always restocks her fridge the way she does? i should have known. damn.'_

The front door opened, Papyrus exclaiming in surprise at seeing his brother awake and alert, given the hour. "GOOD MORNING, BROTHER. YOU SHOULD HAVE LET ME KNOW THAT YOU WERE PLANNING ON BEING UP SO EARLY. YOU COULD HAVE JOINED UNDYNE AND I ON OUR RUN!"

"eh, that's ok, bro. hate to _jog_ your memory, but things didn't go so well last time, if i recall."

Papyrus' face fell into a slight glare at the empty space in the middle of the room. "Oh, right."

Sans shrugged. "sorry, bro."

Papyrus scoffed as he went to the kitchen for a drink, pulling a jug of milk from the fridge. "I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THAT YOU TRIED TO RIDE UNDYNE, YOU LAZYBONES."

A few swigs of milk later, and Papyrus remembered the text he had received not long ago. "SANS?"

"yeah, bro?"

"THE HUMAN LORI TEXTED ME INQUIRING IF YOU WERE AT HOME. A STRANGE QUESTION, BUT I SUPPOSE SHE HAD HER REASONS FOR ASKING ME INSTEAD OF YOU. PERHAPS YOU SHOULD TEXT HER?"

Sans tensed. "y-yeah. i'll do that."

' _shit.'_

0-0-0-0-0

Lori grunted softly in response to Gaster, processing his hand signs slightly more lowly than normal. He forgot to pause to let her translate fully, earning a sigh from the slight woman in front of him. "Slow down, dude. I can't keep up that fast. I can read upside-down, but not _that_ quickly."

Gaster paused, staring at her for a moment before rotating his hands 180 degrees.

 ***IS THIS BETTER, LORILAI?**

Lori scoffed. "Why didn't you do that to begin with? Smartass."

 ***WHY ARE YOU LIKE THAT?**

Lori opened her mouth to retort, but snapped it shut as she realized how absurd she must look to most sensible people, given that she had been holding a modified headstand for over 5 minutes. "Fair point."

She lowered herself gently out of the pose and into lotus position, taking a moment to let the blood out of her head. "Right, care to repeat that?"

 ***SANS HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY CAUTIOUS. HE DOES NOT TRUST AS READILY AS PAPYRUS, AND I FEAR IT IS BECAUSE OF ME, IN PART. YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE HIS SUSPICIONS SO HARD.**

Lori chewed her lower lip gently. "I suppose not...but it doesn't mean that it's any less frustrating to have him acting like this. I'd thought we were at least semi-friendly. Especially after he had taken such good care of me after…" She sighed.

 ***HE IS STUBBORN, SET IN HIS WAYS. GIVE HIM TIME.**

"Speak of the devil…" Lori's eyes narrowed slightly as she felt a spike in Sans' aura.

Looking around, Lori found that Gaster had, as usual, blinked out of existence at Sans' proximity. While it was moderately frustrating when she was having a conversation, she understood his reasoning. Her back door opened and closed, revealing Sans, ketchup in hand. He gave a short wave before sitting in the shade under the umbrella at her patio table. She did have to admit, shade and a drink were likely a good idea. She had worked up a slight sweat, and had neglected to put on sunscreen.

Getting up and rolling her mat up, she ran a few scenarios through her head of what was going to happen, what she should say. Slinging the mat over her shoulder and heading to the patio, she settled for keeping her mouth shut, unless he wanted to talk, at least for the moment.

"'Sup, man?"

He shrugged, and she grabbed her water bottle off the table, taking a swig.

"Cool." She plopped down into the chair across from him and stared out at the treeline. Various birds flitted in and out of the trees, preparing nests for spring. "Nice out, huh?"

Sans grunted in response. ' _Well, isn't he chatty?'_

"It's 'bout 10 degrees above average for this time of year."

He glanced over. "yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's kinda looking like we finally get El Niño this year."

"el niño?"

"Some of the ocean currents get warmer and affect the weather, doing things like causing more rain and raising temperatures slightly. Not that Seattle and the surrounding areas _really_ needed more rain," she laughed. "Things are pretty wet here to begin with."

Sans nodded, going back to looking off in the distance. Lori frowned softly and grabbed her mat before slipping inside for a few minutes, coming back out with a pitcher full of red liquid, two glasses, and a few celery stalks. One glass was sat beside Sans, and the other was sat next to her, and she quickly went about filling the glasses with liquid from the pitcher, callously tossing a celery stalk in the drinks for garnish.

She flopped down, grabbed her drink and, glaring at the trees, downed half of her glass in a single go. Sans looked over at her questioningly. Her response was clipped. "Bloody Mary. Drink up. One of the two of us might bother to start the conversation we obviously need to have but don't feel like having if we're less sober. Or maybe we'll just be friendly for a few hours. Either way, it's an improvement."

His perpetual smile faltered for a moment. He wasn't sure exactly how to react to this. "a-alcohol? now?"

"It's happy hour somewhere."

"are you even old enough?"

She stopped, and glared at him. "I'm 23, asshole. How the hell else would I have bought the booze for this?"

He coughed lightly and took a sip, not expecting her anger. The drink tasted somewhat like ketchup, and had little enough alcohol to not have any real kick. Overall, he found it rather pleasant.

She sighed, refilling her glass. "You wanna tell me why you've basically been stalking me for the past several months? I'd hoped that you'd notice that I kept restocking my kitchen with things you enjoy, and that you'd just come out and be my friend, instead of my warden, or some shit like that."

His heart caught in his throat as he swallowed hard. She toyed with the celery in her glass lightly as she stared into the carmine depths. "Well? Do you really hate me that much? Or is it that I disgust you, or something? I know you put up with me because everyone likes me well enough to want me around."

He would have been chewing his lips, had he had any, and his grip on the glass was firm as he drained the rest, jumping slightly in shock when Lori reached over with the pitcher to refill his glass. She watched him carefully.

"Can you not see out of that eye? Sorry to change the subject, but...I've been noticing that it's almost like you actually can't see out of that eye, jumping slightly at movement that you don't catch until your left eye can pick it up and such."

He looked over at her. "i...can't, actually. you're right."

She paused. "I'm sorry. What happened?"

He looked away. "i'd rather not talk about it. and i'm sorry. for the whole 'stalking'-type thing i'd been doing. didn't know how you'd react if you knew i'd been keeping an eye on ya. but i guess you'd known the whole time, huh?"

She blushed. "I have the feel of your aura memorized. Same with Paps, Undyne and Alphys, Tori, Frisk, and Hapstablook. Asgore is pretty similar to Tori, but also kinda similar to Asriel and Grillby, if I'm being totally honest. But yours is the one I know the best. It's...actually the one I felt first, so long as we're talking raw aura and not emotions."

He nodded. "that how you knew i was there?"

She nodded and took another sip of her drink. "Can I ask why?"

"why what?"

"Why you dislike me so much." He blinked.

"i don't dislike you, lore. i just...didn't trust that you wouldn't end up being something far different than what you seem, or that you wouldn't end up becoming something you aren't really. you've been told a portion of what happened in the underground. i'm sure you can figure why."

She sighed. "So you don't actually mind my existence?"

"no, not at all. where would you get that?"

Lori stared. "Aside from your behavior, not wanting to be around me while you're watching me? I think I've started to inherit Blooky's mental health issues. As if mine weren't bad enough on their own."

He arched a browbone. "I have some anxiety and depression all on my own, but they're quite manageable. Blooky's, on the other hand…they're practically crippling."

He nodded. "i'd believe it."

She sighed, glancing over at the pitcher before refilling her glass again, pouring the last little bit into Sans' glass before setting the empty pitcher down. "Today feels like a good day for a dip in the hot tub, maybe a nap. Can't really decide which would come first though. Or should, rather."

They sipped their drinks for a few more minutes. "doesn't alcohol mix badly with hot tubs?"

She shrugged. "We haven't really had that much, though. While these weren't really virgins, they weren't really that promiscuous, if you know what I mean. I used about half the vodka that I should've, since it's so early."

He nodded. "you never really struck me as the napping type, though."

She laughed and pointed to the tattoo on her chest. "I didn't get Sloth's ouroboros for nothing. I could've gotten Lust or Envy easily, and meant it, maybe even Greed. But I went with Sloth for a reason."

He nodded. "you're a lazybones too, huh?"

She shrugged. "Kinda, yeah. Do me a favor and don't tell Paps."

"m' lips are sealed."

Lori stared at him for several long moments, silently turning over in her mind exactly what she should say. Her blank expression broke out into a giggle when he wiggled his brow ones at her. "You ass."

"never had that, either. sorry lore."

She smiled. "You're the only one who's ever called me that, you know."

"what, 'lore'?"

She nodded and he shrugged. "well, i'd say it suits you. it's like your name, and it also has to do with bein' smart. which you are."

She blushed. "'M not really that smart. I know lots of random shit, but nothing necessarily useful."

"sometimes that's even better than conventional smarts."

She paused. "Well, that's true enough, I guess." She glanced at her phone and sighed.

"knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"samatta."

She snorted. "Nothin' much. Samatta with you?"

He shook his head. "ruined it. guess you heard it before, huh?"

She nodded. "You wanna come in for an early lunch? You skipped out on my offer of breakfast, so you're probably hungry, yeh?"

He shrugged. "sure, i guess."

0-0-0-0-0

 _Fear, hot and tangible, filling every available space that was not already taken by anger and a sense of betrayal._

 _"_ _ **Nngh...Sans?"**_

 _Something was wrong. Horribly so, and she knew what, although something was different from this wrongness than before. She reached out a gentle hand and rested a few fingertips on Sans' shoulder, jostling him lightly._

 _ **"Sans, baby, you're having a nightmare again."**_

 _He gave a soft groan and she curled into his side, reaching up to gently caress the side of his skull with a light touch. He shifted slightly and clung to her frame._ _ **"You doing ok, pookie?"**_

 _He rested his head against her collarbone._ _ **"yeah...just the usual. go back to sleep, lore."**_ _She nodded solemnly and kissed the top of his skull before resting her cheek against it as he quietly played with her side, tracing the bones and folds of the skin with a feathery touch._

 _ **"Alright. I'm here if you need me, Sans."**_

 _He pulled away from her gently, just enough to look her in the eyes._ _ **"i always need you, lorilai. i always will."**_

 _Sans pulled her into a kiss and pressed against her, gently sliding a hand under the loose tee shirt she was wearing,_ his _shirt, finding…_

0-0-0-0-0

Nobody had seen or heard from Lori or Sans in several hours. Papyrus figured that maybe Sans had gone to talk with Lori, and hopped into his car to make his way out to her house. Shockingly, there was no loud music bleeding through the walls of her house, and no sign of her outside, so he made his way down her front walk to the front door, and quietly made his way inside.

He was rather glad that he had chosen to be quiet, because it offered him an opportunity to sneak a few pictures that he would normally be unable to take. Lori and Sans had evidently had lunch together, electing to watch television as they ate, because there were a few dishes on the side tables near the couch facing the television. The television was still playing quietly in the background, and Lori was curled into Sans' side as Sans reclined on the couch, arms spread across the back, his head tilted back to rest on the back of the couch as well. Papyrus couldn't tell who, but at least one of the two was giving of small, gentle snores.

With a gleeful internal 'NYEH!', he set to work taking pictures from multiple angles, sneaking as quietly as he could to avoid waking the pair up. Small mutterings alerted him to a change in the sleeping pair, to which he quickly and quietly put his phone away.

Sans' left eye was flaring as his magic spiked, causing Papyrus to frown slightly. ' _Brother is having another nightmare…'_

A faint green glow caught his attention, drawing his eyes to the source. ' _Nyeh?! Human Lori?'_

Still asleep, Lori traced small circles on Sans' knee with her thumb, a faint green glow coming from the point of contact, leaving a dim trail as she rubbed, seemingly trying to comfort Sans in her sleep. As far as Papyrus could tell, it was actually working, his brother's magic dissipating and his facial expression showing him more at ease, a faint blue glow gracing his cheekbones in place of fearful flashes of magic.

Continuing his level best to stay silent, Papyrus slipped out of the house and immediately pulled out his phone, calling Toriel.

"YOUR MAJESTY, YES, HELLO, IT IS THE GREAT PAPYRUS. I HAVE FOUND LORI AND MY BROTHER. YES. YES, THEY WERE ASLEEP."

He hesitated. "YOUR MAJESTY...I HAVE ALSO WITNESSED SOMETHING QUITE STRANGE."

0-0-0-0-0

Lori groaned softly as she woke up, realizing that she didn't remember falling asleep. It didn't take even half of what little awareness she currently possessed to realize her current position; half-buried in the side of a certain skeleton, who was remarkably comfortable. Carefully and quietly, she eased herself out of the compromising position, regardless of comfort level, and settled into a sitting position a little ways away from Sans.

The last rays of sunlight filtered into her living room between the slats on her Venetian blinds, reflecting painfully off of something in her peripheral vision, causing her to investigate in a mix of curiosity and irritation. The source of the reflection was easy enough to find, and caused her jaw to drop slightly in shock. She shifted, trying to get a better view without touching her sleeping friend.

' _WDG-1 S? Is that...holy shit, that's_ screwed into his hand _. Fuck.'_

She swallowed, gritting her teeth in sympathy, knowing how badly that must have hurt. Running a distressed hand through her bangs and into the rest of her hair, she sighed softly. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she noted the time. ' _Suppose I'll go make some supper or something.'_

She grabbed her phone off the end table and quickly texted Papyrus, inviting him over for dinner since his brother was already at her place, and then grabbed the dishes from their lunch and took them to the kitchen. Still trying to stay as quiet as reasonably possible, she threw together a Temmie Flake infused lasagna and carefully slid it into the oven.

A hand touched her gently on the shoulder as she was backing up from the oven, and she jumped in surprise. "S-Sans! Good Lord above, warn a girl."

"was doin' tha' wi' th' han'," he mumbled out, eyes closed as he shuffled to the fridge. He opened the door and blearily looked around and grabbed a ketchup bottle before closing the door just as silently as he did every morning.

"Huh. So that's what that looks like. Can't say I'd mind actually seeing that every morning."

He turned slowly and cracked open his good eye at her, arching his browbone. She paused, flushing crimson as she realized what _exactly_ she had said, and the various ways it could be taken. She began to stutter out an explanation, making a lazy, lopsided grin spread across his face. "that's adorable."

She stopped immediately, her blush deepening. "W-what is?"

He pulled her close and nuzzled her neck, noticing for the first time that he was actually slightly taller than her, instead of shorter as he had previously thought. "you are."

Slowly coming to his senses, he realized that she was stiff, and that her soul was trembling in shock and alarm. "babe?"

Lori blinked, her jaw clenched and her face a mask of pure shock as he slowly pulled away. "S-Sans?"

He frowned slightly and paused in thought, his eyes going wide as it dawned on him. "t-t-that w-was a dream…oh fuck. l-l-lori, i am so, so sorry, i...i didn't mean-"

She nodded slowly, swallowing a lump in her throat and exhaling sharply before cutting him off. "It's ok, Sans, really. Believe me, I know what it's like to have dreams that feel so real that…" She sighed.

"That sometimes you wish that you could just go right back to the dream when you realize it wasn't reality, and just not wake up. Because sometimes, the dream is a hell of a lot better than reality, so much so that we wish so, so hard for it to be true...but then it isn't.

"But...I'm going to guess that what you dreamed...wasn't too far out of the realm of possibility?"

He looked towards the floor, his cheek bones glowing brightly. She smiled softly, and spoke even softer. "If you wanted...at some point...I don't think we'd be a _terrible_ match, and I'd be willing to give the idea a try."

He stared open mouthed at her for a few silent moments before she gently 'booped' the end of the suture of his nasal bones. "We should get used to actually having a friendship first, though."

He nodded, still dumbfounded. She shrugged and checked the clock before setting the oven timer. "I forget, have I started you on FMA: Brotherhood? Or have you started it on your own?" She guided him to the living room and plopped down on the couch, loading up the first episode of the series before curling hesitantly into the side of a familiar blue hoodie.

 **AN: Sorry I'm late, y'all. Went camping for a few days and got behind on getting this up. Hope you can forgive me. I'll put more up soon, I promise. 3 Traa~**


	7. Save the Date

**DISCLAIMER: SAME AS ALWAYS; DON'T OWN IT, WISH I DID, YADDA YADDA, TOO LAZY, NOT SPONSORED, ETC., ETC.**

 **ON WITH THE SHOW!**

Chapter SIX

Papyrus knew that his brother and Lori had not only been flirting with one another for the past few weeks, but with the idea of a relationship with one another as well. He knew the song and dance well, unfortunately, having been trapped in the same cycle that they were in with his own particular love interest ever since they had come to the surface, but for different reasons.

He was more than pleased that his brother was finally getting a much needed break, and that something was finally pulling him out of the funk that he had been stuck in, even after Frisk had aided in their return to the surface. He was glad that he and the human had finally resolved whatever issue that they had had, because it meant that he and Sans were eating the human's wonderful cuisine more often than not, and that his cooking lessons with her were becoming more and more frequent.

While he knew that Sans had 'had words' with Mettaton, he felt no such need. It was not that he thought that his brother should handle his own problems, much like he knew that his brother did not think that he could not handle _his_ own problems, rather that he trusted Lori impeccably, and knew that, even in her sleep, she would rather try healing his perceived pain, rather than let him continue to hurt.

He knew, however, that given the opportunity, they would continue along their current path, somewhere between a platonic relationship and romance indefinitely. Such a notion was silly, in his opinion, since they were _clearly_ happier together than when they were apart, and their chemistry was clear. His brother was always gone before even _he_ was awake, and spent more time with Lori than anyone else, really.

Lori was definitely adjusting better to her recently acquired monster magic than she had been in previous months. Something about Sans had managed to inspire a new level of acceptance of herself that she hadn't previously had, and she had even managed to start consciously using her new magic, to the excitement of many.

This morning, Papyrus and Frisk cuddled on the couch under one of the large microfiber blankets that lived in the living room at Lori's as they groggily watched _Fairytail_. Lori and Sans could be heard talking quietly in the kitchen as they cooked breakfast and sipped at their coffees. Toriel had dropped Frisk off at their apartment, and Lori had invited all three over for dinner, which then turned into a slumber party.

Frisk wriggled out from under the blanket and shuffled to the kitchen, lightly tugging on Sans' pajama pants leg, halting whatever conversation was being held between the pair that had already been in the kitchen as their attention turned to the smaller, half-asleep human.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

*Milk.

Lori planted a kiss on the child's head and went about getting them a glass of milk as Sans ruffled their hair and asked how they had slept. Lori missed the answer, if any, before putting the glass jug of milk away and handing them their cup of milk. Frisk took a long drink and shuffled to the kitchen table and sat down, groggily nursing their milk as they waited for breakfast.

Sans shook his head and grinned. "kid's downright bushed today."

Lori nodded. "Yeah, but we _did_ let them stay up past their bedtime last night to finish that movie."

"sayin' we shoulda shipped them 'n paps off to bed before the movie was done?"

Lori grinned and rolled her eyes. "No...but I _am_ saying that it's completely understandable, since they were over an hour late getting to bed. Even Paps isn't super bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this mornin'. You _are_ , though. Who are you, and what have you done with Sans?"

He scoffed lightly. "wonder why 'm so ' _up 'n at 'em_ ' this mornin'? 'cuz even i dunno."

Lori shrugged, and gave a small, knowing smile. "I have my ideas. And you're stealing my phrases, you ornery thing, you."

He nudged her. "bacon's burnin'."

She sniffed the air and shook her head. "Nah. It's not quite to that point. Jus' gettin' _nice_ an' crispy."

She busied herself with finishing up breakfast as he started to set the table, making sure that the drinks were on the table and ready to serve as well. Lori started plating the finished food, passing plates and platters to Sans as she finished them, bringing the last two to the table herself before calling around the corner into the living room to bring Papyrus to the table.

The taller skeleton gawked as he surveyed the spread, still half-asleep and amazed that the human had made so much food for only four people. "HUMAN LORI, ARE YOU CERTAIN THAT YOU HAVE NOT PREPARED TOO MUCH FOOD?"

She balked at the very idea. " _Papyrus,_ I'll have you know that my grandpappy didn't raise Lorilai Cliodhna Eidolon to be no fool, ner a bad hostess. Plus, I know us. Most of this is gonna be _gone_."

Papyrus nodded slowly. "PERHAPS YOU ARE RIGHT, HUMAN."

He sat down and they began to dig into the food; eggs, pancakes, biscuits, hash browns, sausage, bacon, and various condiments, including gravy, smelled far too tempting to come after conversation. After the initial minutes, Sans nudged Lori as she poured honey on a still-steaming homemade biscuit.

"what did you say your middle name was?"

Lori looked up, biscuit half in her mouth, taking a slow, exaggerated bite before answering through her mouthful. "Clee-nah. Ifs Irifsh," She swallowed. "Why, what's yours?"

"Seraf."

"AND MINE IS E.F., HUMAN. JUST THE LETTERS."

*I don't have a middle name. Mom didn't put one on my adoption papers.

Lori nodded. "Fonts all the way, huh, boys?"

Sans and Papyrus shrugged. "it's tradition."

"Suppose I can't really say much. My name is halfway traditional too. Lorilai isn't really Irish, but my mom liked it well enough."

She flicked her bangs out of her face and frowned. "Thinking of liking things well enough, I don't think that neon and barbie pink are the best colours for me. Too...girly."

"want help bleaching and re-dying your hair then?"

She squirted a good deal of ketchup on her hash browns and shrugged, passing the bottle to Sans. "Don't know what colours I'd do it it in aside from what it used to be."

Papyrus squinted at her face and frowned. "WHILE NORMALLY I WOULD SUGGEST RED AND ORANGE, I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THESE WOULD BE THE BEST COLOURS TO GO WITH YOUR COMPLEXION, HUMAN."

Lori stared blankly. "You spend too much time with Hapstablook, I swear."

Frisk giggled.

*Why not purple or rainbow? Your hair used to match Vinyl Scratch, didn't it?

Lori blushed. "I'd been doing a commission piece and fell in love with the colour scheme. Don't judge."

Papyrus blinked. "COMMISSION FOR WHAT, HUMAN?"

Lori sighed. "I get discounts on all my ink and whatnot because I have a deal set up with my tattoo artist friend. He occasionally comes to me for art when he's having issues coming up with what the client wants, and I'm happy to help...but the whole 'empath' thing can put a bit of a damper on the idea of being a tattoo artist myself, since even before my empathic capabilities got heightened, I could occasionally feel the pain of others just as clearly as if it were my own. Makes it a bit hard to focus when you're trying to ink someone else."

"you got some kind of portfolio or somthin'?"

"Well, you could start with my back tattoo and the under-boob modification to it."

Sans and Papyrus gawked at her, Papyrus even dropping his fork. "YOU DREW THAT?"

She nodded softly, blushing for the umpteenth time that morning. "Wasn't a pretty time in my life, but at least beautiful things came from it."

The rest of their breakfast was fairly calm, Toriel showing up to pick up Frisk, Papyrus heading home shortly after to get ready for work, which left Lori and Sans sitting quietly at the table, avoiding putting away the last little bit of the food that hadn't been sent home with Toriel and Frisk and doing the dishes.

Sans had headed to the front of her driveway through a shortcut to pick up the paper shortly before breakfast and now reclined in the breakfast nook, silently and leisurely flipping through the pages. Lori absentmindedly scrolled through her social media, humming a tune softly to herself without realizing.

Sans caught a few notes and began to listen closer, thoroughly captivated. "what song is that?"

Lori looked up at him. "Huh?"

"you were humming."

"Was I? Sorry, I didn't know. Not sure what I was humming either. Think you could repeat it?"

He shrugged and gave it his best shot. She wrinkled her nose and thought for a moment. "I think I know what it was. Sounds like 'Fires at Midnight'. May have been stuck in my head. Anyway, is there anything you want to do today?"

Sans paused for a moment in thought. "well, it's pretty nice today...we could go for a ride on my bike, if you wanted."

Lori nodded. "Where to?"

"any place in particular you wanna go?"

Lori smiled. "Well, we could go see a friend of mine, since he's been asking me to come in and take a look at a few things and meet his new protegé. If you don't mind heading into the big city, that is. We could go for some sushi or something after, if you wanted."

Sans shrugged. "eh, why not. it's a date."

"Liiiike...a _date_ date?"

He blushed. "s-sure."

Lori winked at him. "Pick me up at two, then?"

He nodded. "mind if I take this?"

Lori laughed. "I rarely read them anymore. Keep it."

"ok. see ya at two, then."

He blinked out of existence, and she went about cleaning up from breakfast, making sure that everything was out away and that the dishwasher was started before she gleefully made her way to her private bathroom, starting the process of bleaching her embarrassingly pink hair.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans rummaged through his clothes, finding his pair of dark jeans and setting them on a clear space on his bed before he returned to his search, grumbling softly to himself.

' _where the hell is that stupid shirt?'_

[bro, have you seen my dress shirt?]

He sighed, waiting for the response. Assuming that the breakfast rush had just started for the cafe where his brother worked, Sans expected to be waiting for at least an hour for a response. Fortunately, he had the time to spare.

[lore: Hey, sweetie, I don't think we really specified just how formal or casual we were goin on this. Figured I should ask so neither of us end up over or under dressing. I figure that between your better judgement, your Judgement, and my intangibility, we'll be ok to wear whatever.]

Sans paused, caught in a moment of deliberation, glancing at his phone when it buzzed again.

[lore: Semi-formal? Denim and such acceptable but we still look halfway nice? I do plan on bragging to my friend about my hot date, so you know. ;3]

Sans blushed.

[yeah, semi-formal works for me.]

[lore: Cool beans, rookie.]

[lore: *pookie. Damn shitty ass autocorrect.]

He chuckled to himself and grinned. "now to just figure out where that shirt is."

He dove back into the clothes pile in front of his closet, silently cursing his halfway monochromatic wardrobe choices. About halfway into the pile, he heard his phone go off with Paps' ringtone. Climbing out of the mound of laundry, he grabbed his phone off his jeans and opened his messages.

[paps: BROTHER, I WASHED AND HUNG YOUR DRESS CLOTHES IN ANTICIPATION OF A DATE WITH THE HUMAN LORI. YOU KNOW WHAT THE DATING RULEBOOK SAYS, AND I KNOW THAT YOU WOULD NOT HAVE PREPARED NICE CLOTHES ON YOUR OWN. CHECK THE LAUNDRY ROOM.]

Sans smiled softly. ' _man, my bro is so cool.'_

[thanks paps.]

He arched a brow bone as a text came in from Lori. ' _what's she want now? thought she was gettin' ready or somthin'.'_

[lore: Leaving to come see you at two, sugarbritches.]

[lore: My bad, sent that to the wrong person.]

[wha?]

[lore: Was texting my friend to let them know to expect visitors. Don't want to shock them with non-customers.]

[ah. ok. if you say so.]

He shrugged, accepting her explanation for the moment. Wandering down the hall to the laundry room, he fetched his shirt and took it back to his room, grabbing his towel off his computer chair and heading to the bathroom to shower.

0-0-0-0-0

Her bangs clipped up as they bleached, Lori perused her closet, fingering through various fabrics in various colours and patterns as she deliberated about what to wear, hesitating between a knee-length silvery dress with teal undertones and a longer turquoise dress with black and dark grey 'veins' that made the dress look thoroughly like the stone itself.

She shrugged and set the two out, checking the time on her phone, heading back to her bathroom to rinse out the bleach. She took out the clip and carefully rinsed the bleach out with cold water, making sure that she got the nasty chemical out before turning up the temperature and getting into the shower fully, taking extra care to make sure that she conditioned her bangs extra, even putting in a leave in conditioner for over half of her fairly long shower.

She turned off the water and opened the sliding door, wiping water from her eyes to check the clock on the wall. _'Eleven. Okie. I can do this.'_

Smiling to herself, she made her way back into her room and sat cross-legged on the bed, pulling a bottle of nail polish out of the drawer by her bed. Deftly applying the silvery blue with a holographic shimmer to her fingers and toes, Lori nodded in approval and put Netflix on her television for background music and something to occupy her while she waited for her nails to dry. Deeming them dry, she applied a second coat to all of her nails, swearing softly when she twitched and got some on one of her toes.

She looked back up at the television, humming softly to herself as she began to watch what she had thrown on, her default, _Futurama_. Checking her nails again after about half an episode, she nodded in approval and fetched a clear coat from her drawer, applying it quickly, smiling in approval as the quick-dry formula went to work.

Waiting about 10 minutes to ensure the quick dry formula was done, Lori finished off the episode that she had likely seen at least 20 times before. She glanced over at her phone, sitting quietly on her nightstand on charge, and pursed her lips in thought. _'To text Sans, or to not text Sans. Or maybe Sascha?'_

She sighed and picked up her phone, smiling softly as the fan hit her overly-warm, still-damp skin _._ Her thumbs tapped softly on the screen of her phone, pulling up her messages and the conversation with Sascha, pausing for a moment as she thought before quickly typing out her message.

[Yo, broski, who _is_ your new apprentice anyway? Hope it ain't Mickey, ya wiz, or you're gonna end up swimmin.]

Lori grinned at her own lame joke before she stood, grabbing her deodorant and applying it before going over to sit in front of her vanity, pursing her lips as she looked over the various colours available. Staring wide-eyed at her reflection, her lips took a sharp downturn.

Lori got up and hastily grabbed her phone, pulling up Facetime and calling Mettaton. After several rings, he answered.

 _"Yeeeees, Darling? You rang?"_

Lori sighed in embarrassment. "How quickly can you get here?"

 _"Fairly quickly, Lori dear. Why?"_

Her teeth gritted in _determination_. The words made their way out of her mouth reluctantly as she choked down her reluctance and pride. "I...would like...help...with my makeup. I...have a date. And I'm not sure what would look good with what I'm planning to wear, or if I can make sure that my look doesn't end up too grungy or punk rock."

Lori cringed at the squeal of excitement and the following shouts of people that were apparently in the star's vicinity. _"You just_ stay there _, Darling, and Ton-Ton will be_ right over. _When is this mystery date…"_

"Picking me up? He's supposed to show up at two."

 _"Do you have setting spray, dear heart?"_

Lori balked. "Duh? But...just in case I'm running low? I haven't checked recently."

 _"I'm bringing my kit. I'll be there in 20, tops."_

With that, Mettaton ended their call, and Lori sighed. "I think I may have just invited the Mary Kay version of Legion into my home and offered them free reign over my fucking face...I sincerely hope I don't regret appeasing Haps by finally accepting his damn offer."

' _And that I'll get Sans' jaw to drop, even if it is attached.'_

0-0-0-0-0

Shockingly, Mettaton had been rather gentle with his new 'cousin', and ended up making her _own_ jaw drop once she finally caught a look at herself in the mirror. Her fingers had drifted to her face in awe, only to be promptly slapped down by Mettaton as he scolded her for attempting to touch his creation before he had applied setting spray.

"What do you think, Darling?"

She blinked, tilting her head in several different angles to change the light, speaking softly in a fairly reverent tone. "My cheekbones could cut a bitch."

Mettaton arched an eyebrow. "Is...that good?"

She grinned up at him, her nearly natural-toned lips widening into a lopsided grin. "Hell yeah! You're _amazing_ at this. Thank you, so, so much. I feel...amazing."

He nodded in approval, using the setting spray liberally once she had closed her eyes. "My work here is done then. You simply _must_ tell me how things go, dear!"

Lori nodded. "Should be pretty low key. Sans and I are just heading over to Tacoma. Gonna visit a friend of mine to meet his new apprentice that he's taken on, and then get some food. Nothin' big."

" _Sans_? Really?"

Lori turned to look at him face to face, frowning slightly. "What? What's 'wrong' with Sans?"

Mettaton shrugged, crossing his arms. "He just...isn't my favorite skeleton, that's all."

Lori smirked. "'Course not. Paps is."

Her smirk only grew at the creeping blush and the slight stammer her comment had earned. "I don't question your taste, Haps, and ya shoulda figured better than to question mine."

Mettaton scoffed, gathering his things. "Right, right...anyway, I've got a shoot at one, Darling, so I'm going to get going. Text me, mmk?"

"A'ight, catch ya later. Thanks again!"

She peered around the corner as he practically pranced down the hall and up the stairs, nodding in approval as her front door opened and closed, and the faint click of the locking mechanism signaled that her door had been locked. Glancing at her phone, she noted that she had an hour and a half to spare, and two new messages. Upon further investigation, it turned out that one was from Sascha, and one was from Sans.

Sans was her priority at the moment, and she opened his conversation, smiling softly.

[sans: hey, 'm ready early. can't wait to see ya.]

[I'm actually ready early too, except for putting on shoes. If you wanted to leave early, we could.]

Her phone buzzed softly in her fingers as he responded.

[sans: you sure?]

[Mhm! C'mon over 3]

[sans: ok. i'll be over in like 10.]

She nodded and turned to the other message.

[Sacha: lol girl, you'll get to meet them at two. patience sure ain't your virtue.]

Rolling her eyes, she stood up and began to walk towards her landing as she typed out her response.

[Guuuuurl, we done changed our plans. Leaving soonish. Sorry for the delay, offered a Sephora freak free reign over my face.]

She nudged through her shoes, frowning softly at the choices, not finding the shoes she had really been wanting, settling for a pair of sandals that laced halfway up her calf, balancing on a single foot as she put on the left sandal, repeating the process for the right.

A hesitant knock on her door caught her attention, and she unlocked and opened the door, smiling when she saw Sans. "Hey, you."

His eyes went wide as his jaw fell, stammering as he looked her over. "y-y-you...damn. You look beautiful."

She grinned and grabbed her purse before stepping out the door and turning to lock up. "Ready?"

He swallowed and nodded as she turned to smile at him. "y-yeah."

She looked him over out of the corner of her eye as they walked down the path to the parking area at the other end of her house. 'Damn _, he cleans up well.'_

He sported a dark blue button up and black jeans, his posture still relaxed with his hands tucked in his pockets, and for a moment, Lori lamented her choice to wear a dress for that exact reason; no pockets. In place of his normal slippers, he sported a pair of Converse that had been modified to slip on instead of tying. She couldn't help but wonder if there was a reason.

Her phone beeped faintly from her purse, and she pulled it out, checking the message.

[Sascha: okay, lovely! see you soon 3]

Lori rolled her eyes and sighed as she smiled, turning her phone to silent and slipping it back in her purse. Sans looked over to her, his expression questioning.

"It was Sascha. He knows we're on our way." Sans nodded in understanding.

"so, uh...i brought m' spare helmet. 'n a jacket, in case you wanted it."

Lori grinned and stuck out her tongue. "So thoughtful. Very gentleman."

He shrugged, grinning back. "maybe. want me to put your purse in the saddlebags?"

She handed her bag over and thanked him before taking a small walk around his bike to observe it. "You know, I've never really looked at your motorcycle, even though I've even ridden on it before? I feel kinda bad." She laughed lightly, scratching the back of her head softly.

He shrugged. "'s no biggie. you were...kinda occupied that day."

Lori shook her head. "That's true, but still." She arched her eyebrow at his ride. "I didn't take you for a Harley type of guy. That's a 201X Dyna Switchback, right?"

He blinked. "yeh. how'd ya know?"

She shrugged. "I'd been looking at buying one, but then I found my '67 Impala. It was even in black. I literally _could not_ pass up the opportunity. I'm a wayward daughter. You know this. I mean, yeah, Dean would say I douched it up with the modifications I made to the stereo...but... _Impala,_ Sans. _**Impala.**_ "

Sans shrugged, grinning as Lori fangirled. "used to be a scooter, before the city gave up and gave me my license."

"Why'd they...oh. Because of your eye?"

"yeah, but it was a genuine concern, not an 'emahgurd, monster' discrimination thing."

"Well, there _is_ that."

Sans grabbed the helmet and jacket that he brought for her and handed them to her. She smiled in thanks and shrugged the jacket on, before pausing in thought and finally turning around to fish something out of her car. She slipped her glasses onto her face and quickly put on the helmet, turning around to find Sans already on his bike.

"right, where we goin?"

She hiked her skirt a bit and climbed onto the bike behind him, settling in and wrapping her arms gently around his ribs. "Tacoma. Once we get closer to the city itself, I can give you more specific directions."

He felt her chest pressed lightly against his spine through the jacket he'd slipped on to help protect his shirt and blushed lightly. "mkay."

He nudged the kickstand and set them into motion, slowly making his way down the long drive to the road. Lori had relaxed some, given the slow pace, and he could feel her soul humming in contentment as she looked around at the trees that shone just as green as her soul. The weather was warm, but not too warm, and the humidity was fairly low. All in all, fairly perfect.

They reached the end of her drive after a few minutes, and Sans paused to check the road. "I'd personally turn right here, not left. Up to you."

"i can turn right here and still get there?"

"Mhm. Turn right and follow the road. You'll see what I mean."

He shrugged and turned right, accelerating quickly, causing Lori to startle and cling to his ribs as she giggled. _'today is gonna be good.'_

0-0-0-0-0

"And you can just pull into this lot and park, and we'll have less than a block to walk. Sound good?"

He responded by pulling into the parking lot and stopping in the first available space. The engine noise silenced, Lori carefully took off the helmet and jacket, noticing how much quieter everything seemed without the loud purr of the engine. "What would you like me to do with these?"

Sans unlocked the saddlebag next to him, pulled out her purse, and stored his helmet and jacket before reaching for hers. "think we'll be in there very long?"

Lori shrugged. Sans sighed and rolled his eyelights before putting a towel on the dark leather of the back seat. Lori tilted her head questioningly at him as he locked back up and slipped the keys in his pocket, chuckling softly. "don't want you to burn yourself on hot leather when we come back out."

She smiled softly, and held out her hand, which he took. "So sweet of you. Ready to meet the only guy to ask me to hold my own tits out of the way?"

Sans' eyes went wide and he hesitated, causing Lori to laugh. "He needed both hands, and he asked me in a professional setting. Didn't want to mess up something I was paying for that also happens to be rather...permanent."

She could still feel the shock trembling within him, and chewed the inside of her lip for a moment in hesitation before gently massaging and petting his top cervical vertebra. She could feel his tension ease, and smiled softly.

He mumbled softly, but she picked up on what he had managed to half-say. "Oh, shush, you. You know you like it." She stopped, letting Sans come back to his senses as she grabbed her purse and slipped the strap over her shoulder. He slipped his hand into hers and started walking across the street with her.

He could feel the bones of her hands and marveled at how delicate they were, how soft and frail her hands seemed. She opened the door to a storefront with her unoccupied hand and boisterously announced herself, bringing a human, whom he could only assume was Sascha, and a monster, whom he recognized vaguely as So Sorry.

"You never mentioned that your new protegé is a monster, Sascha."

"A protegé is a protegé, regardless of race, don't you think?"

"This is true. You don't do apprentices. So why'd you take one on?"

The smaller, stout monster standing next to her friend cringed and stared intently into it's coffee mug. Lori glanced over at the kangaroo-esque monster and smiled softly. "Ah."

Sacha arched an eyebrow at her, his accent thickening slightly as he relaxed. "What?"

"You took him on because you're proving a point to one of the other parlours in the city, aren't you?"

Sascha stiffened and crossed his arms, huffing indignantly. "He ist alzo een goede kunstenaar!"

Lori smirked. "That isn't the point. _You're being nice._ And a social justice warrior ta boot."

Sans snuck over and held up his fist, which the smaller monster giggled softly and gently bumped with it's own fist. "'sup, man?"

Sascha glanced over, noticing Sans for the first time. " _This_ is your 'hot date'?"

Lori balked. "Are you _judging_ me, Sascha van der Bijl?"

Sans watched their exchange, staring awkwardly as Lori, the delicate, feminine, human that reached perhaps 5'2" glared up at the towering, broad, heavily muscled epitome of virility that stood over a foot taller than her. He exchanged glances with So Sorry and they both silently balked as he slowly began to shrink under her glare.

"Je bent net zo slecht als mijn moeder."

Lori grinned triumphantly. "Good." Turning on her heel, she extended a hand to the small monster next to Sans, smiling warmly. "I'm Lori, dear. Sorry if I didn't make the best first impression. You'll probably end up doing a bit of your practice work on me, knowing Sascha, and if he ever starts to be a jerk, just let me know. We grew up together, and if push comes to shove, I can just call his mum."

So Sorry glanced at Sans, before hesitantly taking her hand. She shook his hand warmly, still being fairly gentle. She broke the handshake after a few moments and turned to Sascha. "Sascha, Sans. Sans, the doofus that is basically a brother to me."

Sascha and Sans exchanged a firm, curt handshake, nodding at one another tersely. "She is right. Mijn moeder thinks of her as a daughter, and she has always been like a big sister to me, even though she is younger. And I am not afraid to go back to jail if you hurt her."

Lori busted out laughing, stifling a snort. " _Back_ to jail? Oh, _Darlin'_ , you would survive in jail just about as well as the Pillsbury Dough Boy. He's never been in or really _near_ a jail, Sans, he's just trying to sound intimidating.

"On a side note, he _is_ actually as strong as he looks. So maybe disregard his failed intimidation, but do take into account that if you're a total sleaze to me, _which I figure is basically impossible_ , that he could likely break you with both hands tied behind his back."

"duly noted."

Lori poked Sascha in his ribs and jerked her head towards the back room. "You wanted me to look at a few things?"

He grunted softly and lead the way back to a large drawing table. "So. Customer comes in, asks for weird thing, _ja?_ Well, I sketch weird thing, they say is good, and I go to smooth lines and refine drawing, right? I call them in to look at finished drawing, and they don't like it. So I give it to Sammy here, ja? Sam does it different. Customer still doesn't like it. So I call in the cavalry. And here you are."

Lori nodded softly. "So where is this...whatever the fuck this is...supposed to go?"

"Sleeve that branches out to chest."

"Ok...and just to confirm...this is...Jesus fuck...an angel-winged, fox-faced...mix between an Okami and an oriental dragon? I guess?"

"Ja. You see problem."

Lori rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "Koffie alstublieft. Gonna need it."

So Sorry hastily set down his own mug and jogged to go get Lori's coffee, Sascha calling after the short monster how she took it.

Lori grimaced slightly and lightly touched her forehead to Sans'. "Sorry. Wasn't expecting something this big to be what he wanted me to look at. I'd thought he meant looking with my eyes only. I'll make it up to you?" She quickly kissed his zygomatic arch before taking her coffee mug and taking a sip, giving a thumbs up as she continued her sip into a large swig. "Good job...Sam, is it?"

He gave a soft nod. "Yeah, but everyone calls me So Sorry."

Sans blinked. "you never mention your name."

"Sorry."

Lori shook her head and slipped on the pair of headphones that Sascha offered her, plugging them into her phone and starting a playlist, breathing slowly as she centered herself as she listened to the music.

Sans stared in awe as her soul thrummed softly to a beat as she worked, looking the drawings and the sketch over carefully. After several minutes she grabbed a pencil and began to scrawl something small in the corner of the blank paper before her before lightly sketching out a form in the middle of the page, refining features, and finally adding details. After about an hour and a half, she had finished up, and told Sascha to call his customer in, if he was available.

Lori and the others sat quietly in the back as they waited for the customer to arrive, and after about fifteen minutes, Lori and Sascha slipped out front to speak with the customer. He only had a minor issue with this version, which Lori corrected in front of him, and Sascha marveled at how easily she nailed what this customer had been wanting.

Lori smiled and waved as she headed back into the back and settled into the large couch next to Sans. "So, is everything going horribly?"

"nah. watching you draw is just as fascinating as watching you play one of your instruments."

Lori blinked softly. "Glad you're not having a horrible time. Usually I've mucked things up irreparably by now." She chuckled softly and blushed lightly in embarrassment.

"nah." He nuzzled her cheek.

Sascha came into the room and beamed. "So. I'm set up to put the lines on him next week. Once again, you save my backside."

Lori shrugged. "No biggie. If there isn't anything else, I'm starting to get hungry, and Sans and I were planning to go eat something once we were done here."

"Why not come to the Midsummer barbecue?"

Lori hesitated, chewing her lip softly. "I...I dunno…"

"Erik was banned from the community. So if that's what you're worried about-"

Lori shook her head vigorously. "I...he...that's...not...really the problem, here…"

Sans rubbed small circles in the small of her back with his thumb. "slow down, and take your time."

Lori sighed and took a few deep breaths. "Yes. There is a part of me that is afraid that even though he was banned, that Erik would show up. But I...have also been away. For a long while. Are you sure I would be welcome?"

Sascha paused. "Lorilai, why on Earth wouldn't you be?"

Lori squirmed. "Sans? Would you be objected to meeting even more new people?"

He shrugged. "up to you."

She sighed softly, and nodded. "Yeah, ok," she mumbled, "we'll go. It in the usual space?"

Sascha nodded. "You taking his bike? Be a hell of a ride home if you don't stay the night."

She looked at Sans. "It's about an hour from here. So even further from home. You ok with that?"

"i can handle it, if you think you can."

Lori nodded, turning back to Sascha. "Do...do you maybe still have…?"

He nodded. "We'll need to stop by my place if you want that."

Lori nodded softly. "Please, if it's no problem."

Sans ran a hand down her back gently. "So what are we doing?"

Lori smiled meekly. "Getting a piece of jewelry that I haven't seen in over six years, and going to a Litha celebration."

Sascha chimed in. "There is also supposed to be a handfasting."

Lori arched an eyebrow. " _Supposed_ to be? If it's scheduled, why wouldn't it take place?"

Sascha shrugged. "Is hard to get married without the priest, no?"

"Did they ask Marcus?"

"Ja, and he said he would, but no one has heard from the little flake in several months."

Lori sighed. "Of course not."

Sans arched a browbone. "a wedding?"

Lori shrugged. "Guess you get to see a good bit of my faith tonight. Sascha, just in case, do you still have my robe? I get the feeling that I'll need it."

He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Lori and Sans to disentangle and remove themselves from the overly-plush couch. He quickly pressed his teeth to her neck, and smirked as goosebumps began to form on her skin and a shiver ran up the side of her soul.

"Ready?" He shrugged.

"jus' tell me where we're goin'."

Lori smoothed her dress and walked out into the main room. "I assume we'll just follow Mister here to his apartment? Is Sam coming?"

"I'd invited him, but he said that he didn't want to impose. I'm not going to force him out of his comfort zone. Yet."

Lori shrugged. "Alrighty, then. Whenever you're ready."

Sascha nodded and gestured to the door. "After you."

Lori took Sans' hand and walked out the door with him, Sascha on his heels until he turned to lock the door. "Right. Following me to my place to get your things, then on our way to the campground?"

"Sure. You going the highway?"

"Ja."

"Right. We'll stop following you after we get to your place, then. I'm not a fan of this stretch of highway."

They crossed the street and got situated, heading across town to Sascha's apartment, where he went and fetched a small chest made of a dark, scented wood. Lori stashed it safely in the cab of Sascha's 4x4 before getting back on the Harley behind Sans. "We'll see you there, mijn broer."

He waved and left the parking lot, and Lori glanced around. "Mmk. You're going to want to turn right here, and then turn right onto 84th."

He started up his bike and followed her directions.

"When it comes to a sorta dead-end, take a right and then an immediate left to go onto 85th, and follow that onto 84th until Waller Road."

"once i get there?"

"Left."

The rest of the trip went just as easily, and was fairly quiet when Sans didn't need directions. They made good time on getting to the campground, and Lori laughed at Sascha when he showed up about ten minutes after she and Sans had.

He scoffed and picked up the nearly 30 pounds of charcoal from the bed of his truck and hefted it over his shoulder. "Ohh hou toch je mond dicht. I had Thistle bring the spare tent in case you and Sans decide that it is too late to leave later."

"Thanks, man. Who all do we know for a fact is coming?"

"Ahh...Thistle, Aspen, James, Vilkas...the usual."

Lori nodded. "And who, exactly, is tying the knot?"

"Elise and a newcomer you don't know."

"We have newcomers?"

"Ja. I believe that her _whelp_ calls himself 'Fern'."

Lori shook her head. "What is it with newcomers?"

Sascha shrugged. "He has only been around for a few months. They have been together a fairly short time, I believe."

Sans looked around and took in his surroundings as Lori spoke with Sascha. It was a lovely, fairly secluded area in the middle of the woods. The area was fairly quiet as well and reminded him somewhat of Lori's. All in all, he found himself beginning to relax.

Lori slipped her hand into his and began to slowly guide him down into the central area around the fire pit. Several people made noises of surprise and began to greet her loudly, and she calmly waved in response. She led Sans to the food tent and began to make herself a sandwich out of a croissant, some cheese, and some variety of cold cut that Sans wasn't familiar with. He was shocked at just how many monsters were there; he had been expecting this to be fairly human exclusive.

"Ahuhuhu, hello dearies. I hadn't been expecting to see either of you here."

"Muffy?"

The spideress gave a wink and a small titter behind a dainty hand. "Of course, dearies. I am the one that introduced our dear Sascha to his protegé. I assume that Samael was too intimidated by the prospect of this many new people to come along?"

Lori nodded. "I don't blame him. I must admit, I'm amazed at how many monsters are here."

Muffet nodded softly. "There aren't many places that we monsters fit in very well, but for those of us that are more of the occult persuasion, we have managed to find some friends in this community."

Sans grabbed a drink from one of the coolers and shrugged. "i didn't figure you for the religious type, muffet."

"Ahuhuhu, no, dearie. I'm not. And neither are any of the other monsters here, really. But we do fit in here." She gestured at a few of the other monsters around. "Clairvoyance, empathy, and the like...they understand it. I'm sure you'll fit in around here, at least somewhat."

Muffet gave another giggle and a dainty wave before walking off, and Lori took a fairly large bite of her sandwich. "so, whatcha wanna do?"

Lori glanced over and shrugged, taking another bite. "I give it ten minutes or less before we hear a screech of rage. I've seen Elise, and I haven't seen the flake that calls hims-"

Lori cringed as an outraged declaration of 'that bastard' rang through the clearing. "Welp, looks like I overestimated."

"HAS ANYONE SEEN LORILAI?!"

Lori shrank, her eyes widening. "Damn. I was hoping that she'd look to someone else first. But I suppose I'll always be the go-to."

Sighing, Lori peeked out of the tent. "Yo?"

The tan, sandy blonde girl that ran up to Lori was, in Sans' opinion, young and naive looking, likely too young to really know what she was getting into. ' _then again, what do i really know about human marriages?'_ He paused. _'am i gonna_ need _to know?'_

Lori and the other female continued speaking for a few more minutes as Sans thought quietly to himself, allowing Sans to tune out almost their entire conversation. Lori's sigh and groan brought him out of his reverie. "eh? what's wrong, doll?"

Lori shook her head. "It's nothing. Guess when your grandfather was the founding member of the community and your entire life has been spent as a member of the community that people tend to look at you as some kind of 'pillar of the community' or a big shot or something, and not just someone that wants to spend some casual time around the fire with friends. Just got roped into performing a handfasting ceremony on the fly, since nobody has learned in over a decade that Flakey McFlakerson has always and will always flake unless it suits his needs. He apparently didn't recall his 'prior engagements' till this morning. The jackass."

Sans grunted. "so, ah...what all is this handfasting thing going to entail?"

Lori stared at him for a moment, her face blank. "I sometimes forget that you wouldn't know these things. It's essentially a wedding, but somewhat shorter and less churchy. Also less legally binding unless they brought the paperwork. If they brought the papers, it can be legally binding, but that's because it's me."

He shrugged. "so when is this happening?"

"I'm going to talk with them in a few. See if they really wanna go through with it, and what all they would and would not want in the ceremony and such. I can't say that I have confidence in the sustainability of the relationship. He proposed to her before they'd been together a year."

Sans nodded and took a swig of his drink. "i'll just hang around here, then. come find me when yer done."

She lightly kissed his cheek and waved as the walked off towards a tent off in the corner of the clearing, ducking inside carefully. Sans shrugged and plopped down on the grass next to the food tent, wondering how long Lori would be as he dozed off into a restless sleep.

0-0-0-0-0

Lori slipped into the tent and sighed, suddenly remembering Elise's affinity for the overly-strong scents from Bath and Bodyworks that Lori could only _just_ stand. Elise perked up at Lori's entrance, and she babbled in her perky, high pitched voice to the male sitting next to her about who Lori was and what a favor and an honour this was, causing Lori to sigh softly.

"Lori? What's wrong?"

Lori looked at the young couple in front of her. "How long have you two actually been together?"

Elise remained ever chipper, but her companion began to grow dark and angry. "Why? What the hell does it matter to you?"

Lori glared, her eyes and her heart hard. "What it matters to me is that not only am I the one performing the damn ceremony, but _I watched Elise grow up_ , you slavering piece of shit. If I am not only going to spiritually bind you two, but put my reputation on the line, then I want to actually know just how damn sure you two are that you want to go through with this, and, more importantly, that it isn't because this is a shotgun wedding or what have you."

Elise pouted at the two of them for their foul attitudes, and looked softly at Lori. "We just had our one year anniversary, and no, I'm not pregnant. We're just really _that_ in love."

Lori arched an eyebrow and looked at Elise's other half. "What about you, buckaroo?"

He shrugged. "It's _Fern_. And Elise is _my_ girl. I love her."

Lori frowned and made a grabbing motion at both of their chests, calling forth their souls. She nodded softly at their reactions of shock and awe. "What do you know about souls?"

"That you're a human and shouldn't be able to pull them out!"

Lori glared sharply at Fern. "Humans may gain monster magic in a variety of ways. How I gained mine is my business. What do you know aside from that?"

Elise perked up and raised her hand, causing Lori's eyes to roll as she pointed half-heartedly at the girl. "Doesn't this mean that my dominant trait is kindness?"

Lori nodded. "What else?"

"Fern's is...justice?"

"Bravery. Justice is yellow."

"Oh."

Lori crossed her legs and bent at the knee to enter a sitting position. "Souls are like the hearts that they're shaped as; fragile, delicate, and nearly impossible to fix properly when they're broken. You can try, but a broken heart is still going to be broken. There is no fixing a soul when it breaks. A friend of mine told me that you can try to hold it together with someone else's magic...but that that only works so well and has a sloo of problems that comes with it. And there's a sloo of problems that comes with a broken heart. I should know. It's messy, and you never truly heal from it.

"Putting on a brave face to fight off just how terrified you are right now helps no one. Be honest with not just me, not just your future wife...be honest with yourself."

Fern glanced between the two women and sighed, his soul dimming slightly, which pulled a quiet squeak of displeasure from Elise. "Fine. I'll be honest. Yes, I am afraid...of the possibility of losing Elise to someone else if I don't act now, as irrational as that is. She's the only one that has ever been this nice to me, and the only person I've felt like this about."

Lori watched in awe as his soul tried to reach out to Elise's, and let her jaw drop slightly when Elise's reached for his in return.

"I'll do it. How much hellfire and brimstone d' ya want?"

0-0-0-0-0

Lori was still trying to come to grips with what she had seen when she plopped down on the hillside next to Sans and began running a fingertip up and down his closest femur. He began to stir, and moved to nuzzle her hip, mumbling softly as he pet her thigh softly.

"I saw something."

"hnn?"

"I...I think that...I have questions for you later."

"mmk."

Lori smiled softly and shook her head. "You're adorable, sleepybones."

"nah."

Lori softly pet his skull and smiled. "I'm gonna need my leg back here in a mo'. Gotta get changed."

"changed fer wha'?"

"I'm the officiate for a handfasting, remember?"

"oh yeah."

He released her and splayed out on the grass again, missing her warmth even before she got up to go get ready. Lori said something he didn't quite catch as she got up, and he watched the sway of her hips as she walked away to do what she needed to.

0-0-0-0-0

Lori slipped out of her dress, and discarded her bra callously in a corner of the tent that had been set up for her and Sans. She glanced at the small chest in the middle of the carpet that had been laid down in the tent and sighed. The last time she had seen these items…

Now wasn't the time for sadness or teary-eyed nostalgia. She kneeled and carefully opened the latch, opening the lid of the fragrant wooden container to reveal off-white fabric and a smaller box. She sat aside the smaller box momentarily and unfolded the fabric, slipping the silk over her head and adjusting it to where it needed to be, checking the clasps and such to ensure that the article of clothing was still structurally sound.

Satisfied with the integrity of the dress, she turned to the antique box that she had set aside, and carefully opened the lid to reveal many pieces of jewelry; bangles, arm cuffs, anklets, rings, and a single choker. Gently, Lori pulled the choker out from among the rest, and put it on. The metal was cold against her skin, and the energies tied to the chains and charms and stones of the choker sent shivers across her skin, causing her breath to hitch in her throat.

"Athair mór..."

She slipped on a few other pieces from the box before closing it and stepping out of the tent, her feet bare on the grass as she bent to zip the tent.

' _Time to do this.'_

0-0-0-0-0

The torches that lit the paths were just starting to be lit as Lori got back to the clearing. The silver bangles around her wrists and ankles made soft, metallic noises as she moved, and several people stopped and watched her as she walked back to the center of the clearing.

Sascha and a slightly shorter, lankier version of the larger man were hunched over a section of the large sand pit that held the massive logs of the ritual fire which hadn't yet been lit. Lori cleared her throat to announce herself as she got close to the two.

"Ah, Lori. I had heard that you accepted the request, so we began to set up your circle like you like it."

Lori glanced around. "So _that's_ why the bag wasn't with everything else."

The smaller of the two men stood up, brushed himself off, and barreled towards Lori, picking her up and spinning her in a bone crushing hug. "Mijn _grote zus!_ "

Lori patted his shoulder and grunted softly as she felt a rib pop slightly out of place. " _Af_ jongen, _af._ Goedzo _._ "

He pouted and whined softly, but he put her down and patted her head. "You have gotten short."

Lori stared. "No, Vilk, you've gotten _tall._ "

Vilkas offered her a youthful, wolfish grin. "Perhaps."

Lori laughed and shooed him away, moving to speak with Sascha. "Little brother is not so little anymore. I think it's almost time, however. We should call people to the circle."

Sascha nodded, tilted his head back, and howled. Several other howls could be heard starting from other parts of the clearing at various pitches, startling Sans awake. He teleported to Lori's side, his magic flaring, and she gently pet him, pressing her lips to his forehead. "It's fine, vertibae. Just calling people to the circle."

Sans looked around, taking stock of the situation. As strange as it was, the eerily lupine howls were coming from several humans, and stopped after several more moments. "wha?"

Lori pet his skull gently. "It's part of their magic. I can explain better after the handfasting and fire lighting. If you ask Sascha nicely, he might even explain it himself."

Sans nodded and grunted softly. "Go get something to drink, sweetie. Barbecue starts soon, and I know that there's a mass of hotdogs and brats and such waiting to be cooked, so food probably should wait."

He shuffled off, still half asleep, towards the food and drink tent. Lori smiled softly, and Sascha rested a hand on her shoulder. "Lorilai, everyone is here for the most part. You should probably begin."

Lori nodded and shooed him away much in the same manner that she had shooed his brother off, and cleared her throat as quietly as she could before turning to address everyone.

Raising her voice so she could easily be heard by the back of the crowd, she began to speak. Though Sans was fishing around in the cooler for a drink, he was still listening intently to her words.

"Good evening, everyone! As we are about to begin, if you could all switch your phones and such off or on to silent, I'm sure it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you."

Lori paused for a moment and allowed time for people to do so before continuing, holding out an outstretched hand. "Would the groom please come forward?"

Fern stepped out of the crowd and carefully picked his way across the circle, coming into the inner circle and taking her hand. Lori reached out her other hand and called for the bride. Elise, wearing a simple white dress, made her way into the inner circle and took Lori's other hand.

She raised her voice once more. "I call upon the spirits of the land, on the earth, the water, the wind, and the flame. Sanctify and protect this circle scribed upon this hallowed ground, from the center here to the river to the north, east and west of us, and the woods and creeks to our south. See the couple here before you, and give unto them your blessings.

"Tonight we welcome a new member into our pack. I have spoken with the bride and groom and deemed them to be of sound mind and sure of their decision, and I will be the first to accept their choice. No one should be forced to hunt alone, and where once there were two, after tonight, there shall be one. Vilkas?"

A call came from the back of the crowd. "He is a bit occupied at the moment. Nighttime approaches."

Lori nodded. "Did he give the cord to someone before he wandered off?"

"I don't think so."

Lori sighed. "Of course not."

A black mass came bolting out of the woods, and someone called Lori's attention to it. Lori smiled softly and sighed in relief as the jet black, fairly large, lanky beast bowed apologetically before dropping a silver cord on the ground. "I'm sorry, mijn broer, I had forgotten what time it was. Good boy. Thank you."

Lori picked up the cord and ruffled the fur in between the pointed ears on her lupine friendhead. "Go lay down, Vilkas. And be sure to use conditioner when you shower tomorrow. Your fur is getting...crinkly."

Fern stared with wide eyes as Vilkas got up and trotted off, laying down near the grills. Lori patted his hand. "I'm sure that someone can explain later. For now…" she paused and clasped his hand with Elise's, wrapping them carefully and tying them with the cord. "Let's focus on the task at hand. No pun intended. Well...maybe a little."

Lori smiled impishly up at the two. "Here comes the fun part. Where you get to save your more private vows for later, and give your more...child friendly ones here."

"I now call upon the crowd to listen and bear witness to the vows, and to hold them in their hearts just as the bride and groom will, until the end of time as they so perceive it.

"Elise? What say you to your mate-to-be before your friends, family, and pack?"

Elise cleared her throat and smiles softly as a blush crept onto her cheeks. "I'm ready, Lorilai."

Lori nodded. "Do you swear to love him and stay by his side for the rest of your days?"

"I do."

"To stay by his bedside and care for him in times of sickness and need?"

"I do."

"To have his back in every conflict, and guard his throat when need be?"

"I do."

"Through whatever may come your way?"

"I do."

"And do you accept these promises, Fern?"

He clenched his jaw and nodded firmly. "I do."

"And what do you say to your mate-to-be before your friends, her family, and her pack?"

"I'm ready."

Lori nodded curtly. "Do you swear to love her and stay by her side for the rest of your days?"

"I do."

"To stay by her bedside and care for her in times of sickness and need?"

"I do."

"To have her back in every conflict, and guard her with your life?"

"I do."

"Through whatever may come your way?"

"I do."

"And do you accept these promises, Elise?"

"I do."

Lori raised her voice further, addressing the crowd. "And what say you? Do you all accept these promises as valid and true?" The crowd chorused with approval.

"Then I name you Brandvaren, and call you husband to our gyldne raev, and name her your wife. _What say you all?!_ "

Vilkas was the first to raise his voice in a howl, and others joined him until the whole group howled in celebration. The strange noise was, much to Sans' surprise, fairly infectious, and he chuckled as he saw Lori join in, her soul shimmering in a strange variety of euphoria. The howling died down, and Lori smiled breathlessly.

Sascha stepped forward out of the crowd and held out a long match to the couple. "I offer the honour of lighting the ritual fire to my cousin and her mate."

Elise gasped softly and took the match. "Thank you, cousin."

Lori broke the circle and picked up the five fist sized gems placed around the edge of the circle, placing them in the bag next to the fire before unbinding the newlywed's hands. "Long life, my friends, and blessed be."

Lori wandered over to Sans in the food tent, her responsibilities, thankfully, over. "Hey there, handsome."

Sans pulled her in for a kiss. "hey you."

Lori grinned. "So what d'you think? It was non-traditional, even among handfastings, but that's how they go with this particular group."

Sans shrugged. "it was certainly interesting."

Lori took his hand in her own and nuzzled his neck. "Wondering about all of the 'pack' and 'mate' stuff?"

Sans shrugged. "kinda."

Lori pointed towards Vilkas. "The lanky teen that glomped me earlier? That's him. And most of the people here are somehow related to them, and or have similar magic. I'm one of the few here that doesn't have similar magic to them."

Sans gawked. "but that's a dog."

"Wolf," Lori corrected. "But that _is_ actually Vilkas."

Sans stared. "h-how?"

"They share a bond with the animals of the land...with some, like Sascha, the bond is weak, thin, and does little more than enhance the senses. With others, like Vilkas...well, they are where the legends about lycanthropes came from. Vilkas...Vilkas suffers from his magic almost as though it were a curse. He has little to no control over it most times, but is slowly gaining a measure of control over it. It used to be that he would black out and have little control over his actions, his baser instincts coming to the fore when he changed to wolf form. Now, he at least knows himself, and remembers what goes on.

"The strength of his magic and the strength of my own is what we bonded over. Both of us can easily deem our abilities to be...fairly detrimental. He had no control. I had no filter, no control, no relief. Sometimes I lose what control I have, and my filters fail. It isn't pretty. If I lose control, I get a migraine, perhaps feel pain that isn't my own _in full_. If Vilkas loses control...things are much rougher for a changeling than they are for an empath. I don't envy him his struggles."

Sans nodded. "i wouldn't either."

Lori shrugged. "He manages. Anyway, you ready for food? The barbecuing is about to begin."

0-0-0-0-0

The amount of food that was made astounded Sans, as did the size of the fire. Several people brought out drums, and others brought out other instruments, and a drummer's circle was formed, with people joining in to dance around the fire. Lori and Sans sat halfway close by, enjoying the music and the atmosphere.

"Say, Sans?"

"yeah?"

"D'you...wanna go stargazing with me? There's a nice spot just over the hill."

Sans looked at her and shrugged. Taking her hand, he opened a rift below them and took them to the crest of the next hill over. Lori shuddered. "So that's what that's like?"

Sans nodded. "why?"

"It's weird, but in a good way." Lori flopped back onto the grass and pointed at the sky. "Look, there's the Ursa major and minor. And Pegasus."

Sans flopped back and took her spare hand in his. "you'll have to, ah, explain that."

"Constellations," Lori explained softly. "Ursa major and minor are the big and little bears, with their freakishly long tails making the handles of the big and little dipper asterisms. Pegasus is the winged horse Perseus rode to save Andromeda, those stars there, in Greek mythology. That string there in between the bears is Draco, the dragon."

Lori continued to explain and point out constellations and asterisms, and Sans couldn't figure out whether he wanted to look at the stars that he so adored, or whether he wanted to watch Lori, her lips quirked in a lopsided, casual smile as she spoke, her eyes alight as she gestured and pointed at the sky, her soul shimmering with happiness.

He wasn't sure how long they spent like that, but eventually, Lori noticed his lack of responses and turned to look at him, and found him staring at her, his eyelights wide. "S-Sans?"

His cheekbones glowed cyan, but he didn't look away. "lore?"

"Have you been staring this whole time?"

"maybe."

"Why?"

"you're beautiful, lore. inside and out."

Her cheeks felt even hotter than before as the blush that had crept onto her face deepened. "O-oh?"

"i...i think i may love you, lore."

Lori opened her mouth to speak, but, for once in her life, couldn't find the right words when she was still in a sound state of mind. After several moments of silence, Sans hesitantly said her name again, bringing her somewhat back to her senses. Still unable to find the right words, she settled for cradling his jaw in her hand as she kissed him, softly and sweetly for several moments, letting the contact linger.

"l-lore?"

"I feel the same, Sans. I...I don't have quite the right words, but...but I guess that 'I love you' will do well enough."

 **HUZZAH IT IS DONE! MUCH THANKS TO MY BESTIEST BESTIE EVARS FOR THE TRANSLATION HELP, AND HOPEFULLY THE LENGTH WILL MAKE UP FOR THE DELAY IN GETTING THIS OUT AND ABOUT! GREAT BIG THANK YOU SHOUT OUT TO ICY RUNDAS FOR THEIR REVIEWS, AND THANK YOUS TO EVERYONE WHO HAD READ AND LIKED, FAVORITED, FOLLOWED, AND SUCH. I FEED ON YOUR APPROVAL, YOU WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL PEEPS 3**

 **UNTIL NEXT TIME!** _ **AU REVOIR3**_


	8. Ghosts of the Past

**DISCLAIMER: YOU KNOW THE DRILL. NOT MINE, NOW OR PROBABLY EVER. TOO LAZY TO CHANGE BRAND NAMES, AND I CAN ONLY DREAM OF GETTING PAID TO DO THIS, SO IT ISN'T SPONSORED BY JACK SQUAT. ALL THAT GOOD DISCLAIMER-Y JAZZ AND STUFF.**

 **THIS CHAPTER MENTIONS UNDERAGE DRINKING AND WORSE. THIS IS, HOWEVER, RATED M, SO THINGS LIKE THIS SHOULD BE...ANTICIPATED. SOME THINGS IN THIS CHAPTER CAN BE SENSITIVE SUBJECTS, SO YOU HAVE BEEN FOREWARNED.**

CHAPTER SEVEN

"mama!"

Lori looked down and smiled at the child tugging on her skirt, their silver ringlets bouncing merrily and silvery irises on black sclerae showing her reflection as the child's eyes shone brightly. "Yes, danth uss?"

A youthful giggle raised her brow as they held out their cupped hands. "Lookit!"

Lori gasped in excitement as small shards of ice began to form above the child's cupped hands. "Oh, Hypatia, that's wonderful! You'll have to show Daddy when he gets home."

"show me what?"

"Sans, baby, come look what our baby girl figured out how to do. Show Daddy your new talent, honey."

Hypatia turned and stretched her hands out further, and Sans beamed with pride. "lookin' good, tia. you just need to practice and you'll be as good as your mom in no time."

"short-cut, short-cut!"

Sans shrugged and scooped his daughter up gently and settled her on his shoulders before staking several shortcuts in rapid succession. Lori sighed and shook her head as she smiled at the gleeful, albeit intermittent, squeal of her young daughter.

She heard the kitchen timer and turned to return to the kitchen and pull the cookies out of the oven. Grabbing the oven mitt from the hook on the cabinet door next to the stove, she slipped it on her hand and bent to reach into the oven as the world faded to white…

0-0-0-0-0

Sans and Lori found themselves a tangled mess wrapped in a tangled mess of sheets and blankets and the odd pillow. Glancing at the clock on her wall, they found it to be fairly late in the day, but neither of them cared much, given how little sleep they had gotten the night before, and the hour at which they got back to Lori's.

The honeyed light of the late afternoon illuminated the patches of exposed skin on Lori's body an odd, though not unpleasant, milky amber colour. Sans groggily traces small circles on her skin, smiling softly to himself as the light touch of his bony fingertips instigated a rather severe case of gooseflesh, something that was rather new and definitely interesting to him.

Lori laid there, hiding her eyes from the light behind her forearms, content to let Sans explore within reason. He was content to explore the curiosities of the soft and malleable flesh that he had had so little experience with, his scientific mind taking over somewhat as he experimented and observed.

He noticed a discoloration, and investigated further. A small section of skin, perhaps an inch in length and a quarter inch in width, stood out on the right side of her lower abdomen. Where the rest of her skin was a creamy alabaster, smooth and supple, this area was harder, wrinkled and pinched looking, and a deep, ugly purple that reminded Sans of a severe, barely healed bruise. Sans had seen that colour on Frisk once, before Toriel had decided that it might be more prudent to homeschool the child, at least initially.

He traced his thumb along the scar, and jumped slightly at Lori's sharp intake of breath. "lore?"

She slowly let out the breath and he noticed a faint downturn in her lips. "lori, what's wrong?"

She peered out from under her forearms, and forced a smile. "Painful memories. Nothing to worry about."

"because of the scar?"

"Hmm."

"wanna talk 'bout it?"

She sighed and sat up, folding her legs in front of her as she shrugged softly. "Not really. But you need to find out eventually, so I may as well tell you now.

"How much do you know about the female reproductive system in humans?"

Sans blinked and rattled off several facts and details, and Lori nodded, finding his knowledge sufficient enough for her current purposes. "Human females are supposed to have two ovaries and two fallopian tubes. I only have one of each at this point. And the extensive damage and scarring caused some pretty severe endometriosis, which, among other things...means that I'm incredibly unlikely to be able to have kids. At this point, it would be a freak occurrence according to my doctor, who I managed to convince to give me the blunt truth."

"what? was it that 'cancer' stuff?"

Lori shook her head. "No, thankfully. You remember how Sascha mentioned an Erik yesterday?"

"yeah…"

Lori sighed. "Yeah...he's part of the reason why."

0-0-0-0-0

"Damnit, Lorilai, you cannot just drink this away! Drowning your brain cells won't bring him back."

"Piss off."

Sascha glared at her in the orange glow of the fire light. "Lori…"

She glared up at him and bared her teeth slightly, speaking through gritted teeth. "Leave me to mourn how I choose. You aren't the one that has to go home to an empty house three days after you had to organize a closed casket funeral for your only blood left worth giving even a tenth of a fuck for. You aren't the one that has the only blood you have left, as useless and pathetic and filthy as it is, coming to mooch off of you for the next five gods forsaken months under the pretense of ' _guardianship_ '." Lori practically spat the words at this point.

"If I want to get horrifically drunk and stay that way for the next week, it is my gods damned prerogative. I still have to replace the fucking car, since that died too.

"Now, if you'll eh-fuckin- _scuse_ me, I'm starting to get drunk enough that this pig swill is almost palatable, and my bottle is empty."

Lori pushed herself up and stalked off, booting the bone that Vilkas had been chewing on back towards the derpy, disproportionately growing pup that had chased it out of reach of his tether, as long as it was. She flung her bottle callously over her shoulder into the bag of bottles to be recycled as she crouched down to dig for another bottle.

"Mind handing me one while you're down there?"

She rolled her eyes and offered a beer to the empty space behind her, and fished for another once it had been taken. "Thanks, doll. Say, what's your name?"

Lori slammed the cooler lid shut and stood, cracking the lid on her beer and taking a swig before finally looking at the stranger. Dark hair, dark eyes, tan skin and chiseled features greeted her, and she found herself tucking a section of her blue-black bangs behind her ear as she cracked a soft smile. "Lorilai."

His lips parted in a cocky grin, revealing unnaturally white, perfectly aligned teeth. "Erik."

0-0-0-0-0

"When I'm rating regrettable things and experiences on a scale of one to ten, Erik counts as a number all his own, far, far, _far_ past ten. Because, unfortunately, when I'm drunk enough that cheap beer tastes good, I'm drunk enough that the thought of 'you look like my next big mistake' doesn't quite register properly.

"All in all, it made a horrifically dark period in my life, one so dark I very nearly didn't make it out of it. I had the presence of mind to be able to channel the self-destructive thoughts into something constructive and non-harmful to me. I took one of the pieces of art that I made in this time, and told Sascha to put it big and bold and sharp onto my body, a prettier reminder than this fucking scar, and a definitive reminder of the sins crawling on my back, and that which I've lost."

Sans gently pet her thigh as she sighed at the admission. "It doesn't help that I had...well, let's call it a bad dream, because while it was good, it was taunting and rubbing salt in old wounds.

"wanna talk 'bout it?"

Lori stared, blushing at the recollection of her dream. "We, ah...we had a kid. Hypatia. Absolutely _the_ cutest thing on the face of the planet. And you...were an amazing dad. And we were just...amazingly happy...and it just seemed so...real. Like one of those dreams that you have that actually happens later, except…"

Sans pulled her close as she trailed off. "you never know. but what says 'm gonna be a good dad?"

Lori stared at him unblinkingly for a few long moments. "What do you think what you do for Paps is? Even if you're his brother instead of his father, you're still incredibly nurturing towards him."

Sans shrugged, and Lori threw her legs over the side and got out of the bed. Sans stared wide eyed as he traced the curves of her body with his eyes, admiring her from behind.

"I'm assuming you like what you see?"

Sans jumped and averted his gaze, a blush glowing brightly on his cheekbones. "m-maybe."

"You're never that enthralled and filled with admiration. Not even when you think about just how cool your brother is. I can only assume…"

' _why did she have to be an empath?'_

"yeah, guess ya caught me." It was Lori's turn to shrug.

"It's not like it bothers me. And you _are_ my significant other. Why wouldn't you be able to see me like this?" She pulled her hair back with a wristband off of her wrist and slipped on a ribbed cyan tank top that clung loosely to her form.

"did you just say that 'm…"

Lori shrugged. "We may as well have been dating the past few weeks, may as well call it official, unless...you would rather not. Which is totally okay by the way, really, no problems here if you would really rather not call me your girlfriend or whatever because if you have an issue with it then that's totally okay," Lori blurted, rambling nervously.

Sans laughed and motioned for her to come closer, and while she hesitated for a moment, she complied. Once she was in reach, he pulled her down onto the bed and kissed her lightly. "'m more than okay with calling you 'mine', lore."

0-0-0-0-0

Sans scooted the bacon around in the pan, lost in thought with a dreamy smile plastered on his features. Lori was in the shower, and Papyrus was on his way for dinner. Everything was wonderful in his world right now, and he was...dare he say it, happy.

Lori padded quietly into the kitchen and kissed the side of his jaw. "Hey you."

"hey. paps is on his way over."

"I figured. That's most of why I put something on once I dried off, instead of hanging out in a towel for a bit."

Sans sized her up. Her hair hung in loose, damp sections, and she had a looser black cotton dress on. She fetched a bottle of Dr Pepper out of the fridge and took a swig. "How's the bacon comin'?"

"almost done. what else is for dinner?"

"Burgers and fries? Won't be like Grillby's, but I make a pretty okay burger, so I'm told. Thought I might teach Paps how to use a grill."

"he should enjoy that." Sans wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into a kiss. Lori giggled and draped her arm on his shoulders and around his neck as he dipped her gently.

0-0-0-0-0

All good things come to an end.

Unfortunately for Sans, when good things-such as his contentment with his life in general-ended, it was by coming crashing down around him.

Perhaps it was his complacency that lead them to this point. He had gotten content, lazy, and had been neglecting to keep an eye on things. So it hit him all the harder when reports of an attack on a monster came in not just from the sensationalized media, but also in the form of texts and calls from concerned friends and family.

Toriel was currently tending to the wounds of both Monster Kid and Undyne, who had come to MK's defense when she heard the shouting outside the apartment she shared with Alphys and gone to investigate. Lori had immediately come in to town and was helping Frisk deal with the media that were swamping the apartment complex, and Sans was sitting numbly in a corner, listening to Undyne give her statement to the police; she had heard the shouting, gone to investigate, and drove off the humans, taking a knife in the process.

Lori and Frisk stepped back inside once the police had left and locked the deadbolt behind them. Frisk seemed fairly calm despite the situation, and Lori was stone faced, her eyes glowing brighter than usual. Toriel glanced up at her and gave a small, reassuring smile. "Are you alright, my child? I know that this must be a difficult situation for you, emotionally."

Lori shook her head. "How I'm doing is irrelevant. How are Undyne and MK?"

"I'm doing okay!"

"Heh! I'm fine, punk. Worry about someone else."

Lori looked at Sans and frowned slightly. "Sans?"

His attention snapped to her, refocusing him. "yeah?"

"I know you. Please be sure to keep your yellow core in check, okay? Because I also know how little HP you have...and I know firsthand what these goons are like."

He stared quietly at her for a few long moments, sighing as her pleading expression wore him down. "alright."

Toriel cleared her throat. "If everyone wanted to stay the night here, I'm sure Frisk and I would not mind."

Lori wrapped her arms around herself and nodded. "I think that that might be beneficial."

Toriel placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulders before yelping slightly and retracting her hand in surprise. "Lorilai, dear, you're as cold as ice."

Lori raised a questioning eyebrow. "What?"

Frisk tugged gently on the bottom of her shirt.

*I noticed it too. You're the same temperature as bologna from the fridge.

"But I feel perfectly fine. It even feels a bit warm in here to me."

"babe, it's cold in here even to me. why do you think alphys is in a sweater?"

Lori shrugged and sighed. "To be totally honest, I am at this point used to my body doing a bunch of weird shit, and I no longer care."

"B-but what effect is it h-having on your b-body?"

Lori shrugged again, and rolled her eyes when Toriel placed a small device on her forehead. "Your HP is full...everything seems...what?!"

Everyone looked at Toriel expectantly, silently demanding an answer. Toriel cleared her throat softly and swallowed a lump that had formed in her throat. "Her magic levels are higher than your average BOSS monster's are, at the moment."

Lori's jaw dropped, and she pulled at her chest, manifesting her soul. The two souls had almost completely fused, only faint, tiny sections at the very edges of her soul retained the original colours of the two separate souls, and the corner of Blooky's soul that still had not merged with hers glowed brightly, the air around it condensing slightly.

"Wh-what the hell?"

She let her soul return to her chest and frowned slightly. "Weirder than normal, but...I don't think I'm going to freak out like I used to. There's no real point, for one."

She closed her eyes and concentrated, searching herself as she had before, finding the overwhelming cold and focusing on it. She heard audible gasps, but pushed those aside, continuing to focus on the feeling, memorizing it, before she opened her eyes.

"lore...your hands."

She glanced down and gasped herself at the warm, green glow that radiated from her palms. She hesitantly reached out towards MK and rested her hand on his head. The scrapes emitted a quick green light before closing, the bruises faded under a soft green glow, and his expression faded into one of bliss. Lori retracted her hand slowly and stared at her palms in awe.

"It's like you put an ice pack on all my cuts and bruises and it made them feel cold, but then they just felt...good."

Toriel smiled proudly. "That was wonderful, my child! This would explain why you could not find your healing when I told you to look for heat."

Lori shrugged. "I guess."

Sans chuckled from his seat, and Lori raised a questioning brow. He shrugged softly. " _ice_ one, babe."

Lori and Papyrus groaned. "That was horrible, vertibae."

He paused. "what?"

Lori blinked. "Had you not heard me when I called you that last week?"

"heh. no, was still mostly asleep. but i love it."

"I figured that you wo-"

Lori's phone rang, and she slipped it out of her pocket and glanced at it, furrowing her brows and hesitantly answering the blocked number. "Hello?"

"Lorilai. Been a long time."

All colour drained from her face, and her soul trembled at instant recognition of who was on the other end of the line. "E-Erik...there's a restraining order. I could have you arrested."

"Ah, but that would require that you know where I am. Which you do not."

"What the fuck do you want, Erik. It's been...It's been six years." She choked softly on the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Oh...nothing, really. Just wanted to tell you that you look as beautiful as ever, _especially_ with those stunning blue eyes. Pity about your monster friends, though."

"Wh...what the hell do you know about that?"

"That if it was me, I would have done the job right, and not gotten chased off by some fish freak. And that if I were you, I would start watching my back. My associates and I don't take kindly to monster sympathizers, and you killed one of our own. We will have our pound of flesh. And we are watching."

Lori's phone fell from her hand as she gaped in shock, the line falling dead as Erik finished his threat.

"babe? lore?"

"Erik is back. And the asshole from earlier that attacked MK was connected to the guy that attacked Blooky and I. And they both are connected to Erik, part of some organization that...hates monsters and monster sympathizers I guess? He claims that they'll get revenge for how things went down with the attack last fall, and that they're watching."

Her eyes glinted with determination as she glared at the floor, tears streaming down her face. "I'll be damned if I let him hurt anyone else. _He_ is the fucking monster, _not_ all of you."

 **SHORT, I KNOW. AND I'M SORRY. BUT MORE WILL BE COMING SOON, AND ALSO** _ **HOLY CRAPAROONIE, WE HAVE MORE LEGIT PLOT NOW?**_

 **THANKS AGAIN TO ICY RUNDAS, AND THANK YOU TOO, WONDERFUL GUEST COMMENTER!**

 **I ALSO HAPPENED TO NOTICE AFTER I POSTED THE LAST CHAPTER THAT LESS THAN SIGNS ARE OMITTED BY THE SITE? ASSUME THAT IF YOU SEE AN OUT OF PLACE THREE, THAT IT HAD BEEN A LESS THAN THREE, BECAUSE THAT IS MORE THAN LIKELY WHAT IT HAD BEEN.**

 **THANK YOU ALL FOR READING, AND I'LL SEE YOU AGAIN REALLY SOON! I** _ **LESS THAN THREE**_ **YOU GUYS!**


	9. My Own Worst Enemy

**DISCLAIMER: THE USUAL SHIT. YOU KNOW THE DRILL.**

CHAPTER EIGHT

Alphys' lab coat in tatters on the ground.

Undyne's spear shattered, far from it's owner's hand.

A mangled heap of metal and tubing, strangely silent and empty.

A ragged red scarf, barely managing to stay in a single piece.

A shredded and bloody purple dress in a pile of dust curled protectively around a small, bloody form.

Asgore's trident and crown at the end of a long, ragged scorch mark.

Sans' mangled and torn jacket gripped tightly in her trembling fingers covered in blood and dust.

In the middle of it all floated an ethereal shade, wispish and cold, her face concealed behind a strange, skull-like mask. Her words were deep, and echoed with power, reverberating deep within Lori's skull, burning in the space just behind her eyes.

 **"Deny us if you please to the outside world, but you must admit to possessing your mother's gift, child."**

Lori dropped to her knees, reeling from the pain, biting out her answer. "Would a gift show me the corpses of those I love? This is a _curse_ , banríon. Not a blessing."

 **"A gift would show you these things, if to warn of what may come to pass."** The shade raised a hand, calling on a small rock only to cast it into a nearby lake. **"The possibilities are ever changing, being molded by our actions and inactions. Every choice you make influences the outcome. Every choice making new ripples. Just how much those ripples change the image before you is up to you.**

 **"But make no mistake. The scene depicted here is a possibility. You walk the edge of a knife, youngling, and have a pivotal voice in the course of what is to come."**

"And what of the other dream you showed me?! That can't happen! I...I can't have children, even if I want to. I have no proof that this isn't all just a crock of crap."

 **"Have we ever mislead you before?"**

Lori bit her lip and hesitated.

 _ **"I repeat. Have we ever mislead you before?!"**_

"No...but-"

 **"If we have never mislead you, then why do you deny us? We warned you of your mother's death, her father's death, the death of your child. And when the time comes, you** _ **too**_ **shall keen in preemptive mourning...Cliodhna. Just as we do. You have been warned."**

0-0-0-0-0

Sans shook her shoulder vigorously, pleading to her unconscious form to wake up. With a strangled gasp, Lori jolted forward from her reclined position on the couch, startling Sans enough to make him jump back.

"b-babe?"

Lori's eyes darted to him, her eyes still wide. "Sans."

"y-you okay?"

"Fine. Is something wrong?"

He shook his head numbly, eyelights still wide with shock. "you were mumbling in your sleep. seemed like you were having a nightmare."

Lori's lips quirked gently, remaining neutral. "Sorta. It was nothing."

She glanced around, sensing something off, and arched an eyebrow at the familiar shade in the corner of her dining room just before he faded from sight. Sans seemingly hadn't noticed, but Lori had, and she wondered what might be so urgent that he would risk being noticed by Sans.

"Any news from the others?"

"the lab results are back and the guy has been identified and is being charged. we're lucky undyne knocked out one of his teeth."

"Lucky might not be the best word for it, since it was in response to an attack. It is nice that things are resolving themselves so far. Any other news?"

"about the possible anti-monster group? nothing."

"Great. So we're still in the dark on that, with the possibility that Erik had just been trying to scare me."

Lori shoved herself out of the couch brusquely and stalked off towards her room, her soul filled with determination. "lore?"

She fished through the bottom drawer of her vanity and pulled out a small, linen-wrapped bundle. Clearing a space on her vanity and lighting two of the candles there, she carefully unwrapped the bundle, revealing a deck of cards.

Sans peered in. "lori? what you doin'?"

"Looking for answers. Given how these things usually work, I'm probably about to be called out on some bullshit that I haven't admitted to myself yet."

She shuffled the cards carefully, focusing intently, _determination_ in her stare. Placing three cards face down in a row, she sighed, setting aside the rest of the cards carefully before starting to flip the three she had set down.

 _'Reverse Magician. The High Priestess. Death.'_

"death? wh-"

Lori held up a hand, focusing intently on the cards, her brow knotted in contemplation.

Several minutes passed, and Sans sat worriedly on the bed. He had read about this 'tarot' stuff, though he didn't know much. It had been made out to seem like useless superstition from what he had read, so he hadn't paid much mind to it. But here Lori had a deck in her possession, one that looked well used, and he hadn't yet seen her put stock in something without reason.

"Sans?"

He looked up at her, his brow bones drawn together in worry. "yeah?"

"There is something that I haven't told anyone, not even Sascha. The secret died with my grandfather six years ago, and I've been the only one that has known since. I've been denying it my entire life, but at this point, I can't avoid it anymore.

"When I say this, it will sound absurd. But it is, as far as I know, the truth in it's entirety."

"okay?"

"Magic passes along family lines, correct? My grandfather was an empath, and had weak pyrokinetic abilities. Kindling a fire with wet wood, keeping flames in check...mostly it only ever presented itself as an abnormally high body heat for a human. My mother only inherited his empathy.

"But from her mother, she acquired a fair degree of clairvoyance, mostly showing itself as precognitive dreams and a talent for tarot. These cards used to be hers."

Lori cleared her throat and pinched the wicks of the candles to extinguish them, making Sans flinch. "I inherited both of my mother's abilities, though I've tried denying it my whole life. My mother's passing, my grandfather's, and my ectopic pregnancy that lost me my ability to conceive...I had seen it all coming, though I ruled it all off as coincidence.

"My entire life I've been denying myself. And it's time that I start accepting everything, every part of myself. I hope that this doesn't change your opinion of me."

 _'it's been six years...he was her mistake...and lost her ovary and fallopian tube...to an ectopic pregnancy?'_

"you...would've been a mother?"

Lori blushed. "I don't know _what_ I was expecting, but I figured it would be more focused on the whole 'clairvoyance' thing, not on that."

"s-sorry. just...trying to picture a mini-you in the picture since we met. one about as old as frisk."

She wrapped her arms around her midsection and looked towards the floor. "Probably would've been great friends. Erik wouldn't have been in the picture, so it would be just my parenting influence. Maybe a bit from her uncles Sascha and Vilkas. But mostly just me."

Sans frowned softly. "sorry. didn't mean to make you upset."

Lori got up and sat next to him on the bed, leaning against him. "Nah. If nothing else, I'll probably end up adopting in the next few years."

"welp, vertibae, i'll be with you, whatever you decide."

Lori blushed and gently kissed Sans' cheek bone. "Thanks. You don't think I sound crazy, though?"

He blinked at her. "given everything else? why would i? plus, some monsters have similar talents. there's this one that everyone just called 'riverperson' that would say the strangest things...frisk told me about some of the weird things they said with some of the things that happened."

Lori shrugged. "Maybe. Wouldn't know. What kinds of things did they say?"

Sans shrugged. "only one i really remember is something about 'beware the man that talks in hands'."

"Why would they say that?"

"eh, who knows?"

0-0-0-0-0

"Yo, Alphy, who am I?"

"M-Marceline?"

Lori winked and hovered over to peer over Alphys' shoulder at the cosplay designs she was working on. "Ooh, looking nice!"

Lori took off the wide brimmed hat she had slipped on to finish her look and tossed it onto the couch, continuing to float and watch Alphys draft her cosplay.

"Y-you know that you sh-shouldn't float like that for too long, r-right?"

Lori sighed dramatically and floated down and sprawled on the floor. "I suppose, but it's _fun_ , and when you've got a new toy, you're gonna wanna play with it, right? Like Sans was explaining about skeletons and when they figure out that they can somewhat dismantle themselves."

"Y-yes, but even still, you should make s-sure that you don't o-overwork yourself."

"Tell that to Sans the next time the annoying dog steals his forearm when he falls asleep on the patio. Chased the damn dog for an hour till I lured it with a hotdog."

Lori formed a chunk of ice and started tossing it towards the ceiling, catching it, and throwing it up again. It had been nearly three months since the attack on MK, and things had gone almost entirely quiet. No more calls from Erik, no new attacks, even in Tacoma and Seattle. It was as though things had gotten _too_ quiet, and Lori didn't like it one bit. Crime simply doesn't disappear like that overnight, and the extended silence almost set Lori on edge more than the thought that people were attacking and killing monsters to attempt to absorb their power.

They were biding their time. Waiting. And they were clearly organized.

But in the meantime, life goes on. And so Lori, Alphys, and several others decided to attend a con, and the one that they had selected was fairly local, and fell shortly after the anniversary of Blooky's death. Lori was glad for the potential distraction.

Lori had opted for a character from Adventure Time, Alphys had chosen a character from Mew Mew Kissie Cutie, Undyne had chosen a character from Madoka Magica, Sans had opted to not cosplay, and Papyrus and Frisk were doing a joint cosplay of a draugr and the Dragonborn. Lori had chosen something simple so she could help Papyrus and Frisk with their cosplays, since they needed the most help.

She was waiting on some primer to dry in order to continue the process of making the master sculpting of Frisk's helm, and sighed softly from boredom. Sans blinked into existence near her, and she jumped in shock, yelping softly in surprise.

His eyelights snapped to her, his mouth set in a frown. "we have a problem." He pulled one of his hands out of the pocket it normally stayed in and held it out for her.

Lori hesitated, not feeling this much fear coming from him in a long while, and never while he was awake. She closed her eyes and took his hand, and felt her breath hitch in her throat as her stomach lurched during teleportation.

She opened her eyes slowly, not knowing what to expect, her brows knitting together in confusion as she registered Toriel's apartment. "Sans?"

He quickly typed something out on his phone and handed it to her. She took it and her lips took a sharp downturn as she read. She handed his phone back, and closed her eyes, stretching out her mind to find Frisk.

Lori flinched slightly, recoiling from the darkness surrounding the child's soul. "Frisk? Sweetie? Could you come here for a few?"

"Coming!"

Her eyes snapped open upon hearing the child's voice, knowing in that instant that Sans had been more than right...something was indeed wrong, severely so. Frisk rounded the corner, their skin a sickly pale colour and their cheeks flushed brightly with what Lori could only assume to be a fever.

"Yes, Lori?" Normally brown eyes shone carmine, their mouth twisted into a forced, overdone smile.

Lori hesitated momentarily. _' 'You walk the edge of a knife' indeed.'_ She smiled at the child, crouching down to come closer to being face to face.

"How's it going, kiddo?"

"Ohhhh, pretty good. Mom just went out to get some groceries. She said that she was making pie later!"

"Did she? Sounds good."

"Yeah, it doe-wait." Frisk chuckled wryly to themselves, dropping their façade to reveal their true attitude.

"Damn. The brat doesn't talk, do they? I should've been paying more attention."

Lori hesitated, more noticeably this time. Frisk's hand was waved dismissively in the air. "Oh, you may as well just give up your act now, I already realized that you saw through mine. No point in delaying the inevitable, right?"

Lori sighed. "No. There isn't. Which is why I'll cut to the chase. I want you to let Frisk go."

"And why exactly would I do _that_ , hm?"

Lori stood and sighed, frowning softly. "I figured that it would be obvious to you, Chara. I have a human soul, so I would be easy enough to bond to. I have both monster magic and human magic. I'm significantly more powerful. I'm not about to make demands such as I did without incentivising you."

Sans balked, his mouth moving dumbly at her proposal. Chara arched an eyebrow. "And what makes you think that I would even be able to do what you're suggesting, even if I wanted to?"

Lori shrugged. "You have a grip on Frisk because they're your point of origin. I'm not ignorant enough to not know the story. Human souls have a tendency to stick around after death. It's how Asriel got yours. Monsters know this. Alphys made a point of mentioning as much when sharing some of her findings on determination with me. She didn't know why. Monsters either didn't know, or forgot. But some humans remember.

"It's simple. Everyone mistook Frisk for you. Every time. They didn't correct anyone for the longest time. You look nearly identical. Your souls, on the other hand... _are_ identical. It's called reincarnation. Most humans think that it's fake, blasphemous, what have you...but most humans also don't believe that humans can have magic. And it's simply wrong.

"It happens sometimes. Monsters _are_ their souls. Humans are different. Humans are made differently. And sometimes, a soul is stubborn enough to want to come back. And so it does."

Lori sighed, shifting her weight more onto one foot, crossing her arms. "You want power. That's what I'm offering. But you have to let Frisk go, to be their own person. My soul should be compatible enough to host you if both of us are willing."

"lore, don't. they 'll just-"

"I know what I'm doing Sans. Trust me." She turned to the child before her. "I also ask for a one year period where you will wait to hurt anyone physically or emotionally with malicious intent."

"Three months."

Lori quirked an eyebrow. "Six."

Chara grinned, withdrawing Frisk's soul, tainted with a sickly crimson sheen. "Deal."

Lori planted a quick kiss on Sans' skull, and whispered a quick 'I love you' as she withdrew her own soul and touched it gently to Frisk's. As tainted determination climbed from one soul to the other, Frisk began to look more like themselves, and Lori less like herself. Several terse moments passed, and both souls drifted back into their respective housings. Frisk blinked rapidly, tears forming in their eyes as they launched themselves at Sans, clinging for dear life as they bawled.

Lori turned to Sans, who audibly gritted his teeth as he noticed her lavender eyes. "i can tell you're in there...kid."

Her eyes rolled, and she clicked her tongue in disgust. "So? It isn't like I care, you worthless smi-"

Sans watched as her eyes went out of focus for several moments, only to come back and focus on him with a deep sigh. "I am sorry for calling you worthless, Sans, and I am also sorry that I was going to continue on to call you worse. I should not have done that because it is rude and mean, and was specifically to upset you and try to pick a fight. I will refrain from doing so for the foreseeable future. _Are you happy now?_ Fine. Yes. Fine. _Whatever_. Sans, I am supposed to ask you for two more favors. Firstly, I am supposed to ask you to leave me to Lori for the next six months. She says that she'll keep me under wraps and out of everyone's hair. Next, since you brought her here by shortcut, she asks for you to take her home and send Alphys home with some kind of brief excuse or something. If it's any kind of...assistance for your decision, it would mean that you could prevent me from walking through town and keep other people safe?"

Sans blinked for several moments before patting Frisk on their head, and following what he suspected was _actually Lori's request_ in short order, with as little time in between shortcuts as possible. When he got back to Toriel and Frisk's apartment, Tori was walking in the door, much to his relief, and he walked over to her side quietly, placing a hand on her arm. "we need to talk. might wanna call a meeting. everyone that is friends with lore."

0-0-0-0-0

Lori sighed and looked around her new surroundings for the foreseeable future, and frowned softly. Focusing her will, she began to shape the formless mindscape into something more livable. Chara sighed and plopped down on the newly formed plush couch. "I can't believe you embarrassed me like that in front of that...that…" They halted when one of Lori's eyes cracked open into a murderous glare. "Fine. Can I at least call him a pain in the ass?"

Lori sighed. "Look, I know that you two have history together, and not the good kind. But think. Frisk's ability to reset came from you. Even when you weren't causing murderous, genocidal rampages, you were there. Observing. You can't say that he wasn't nice when you weren't being a problem child." She arched an eyebrow at the oriental rug, changing it's colour slightly to better match the real-world equivalent.

"Well, no, but-"

"'But' nothing. You can't do things like that and expect to not be punished. Say you pushed over Asriel when you were both more...intact. You got in trouble, right?"

"Right…"

Lori folded her arms sternly. "So what the hell makes you think that something so much more major, _like genocide_ , would yield different results?"

Chara sat quietly for several moments before fidgeting slightly in their seat. Lori sighed softly. "With great power comes great responsibility, kid. Just ask basically any version of Spider-Man."

She sat down gently next to the small child, their slightly oversized green and cream sweater the current target of their fidgety fingers as they processed Lori's words slowly. She frowned softly. "You should have known that eventually you would get caught. What got you so hung up on mischief and mayhem in the first place?"

Chara glared up at her. "Like I have to tell _you._ "

Lori shrugged nonchalantly. "I have time. Almost a full six months, in fact. You literally can't escape me. You're possessing _my_ soul. I can invade your every thought, your every dream." She paused as she heard a faint gurgling noise. "I think we're hungry, by the way. Might want to deal with that."

Chara groaned softly. "Fine. But don't think your stupid schtick is going to work. Six months is up and the first one I'm killing is the smiley trash bag."

 **A/N: I AM SO, SO SORRY THAT THIS IS SO LATE. MORE TO COME SOON. THANKS SO MUCH FOR BEING PATIENT! SEE YOU ALL SOON!**


	10. Duly Noted

**DISCLAIMER: NOT MINE, NOT ENDORSED IN ANY WAY, YADDA YADDA.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has read or reviewed so far. I hope you enjoy.**

CHAPTER NINE

Dovah stalked through the countryside, slipping past bears and the like, making their way to their far more important target. The fool had gotten themselves targeted by the family, and the pleasure of sending them to Sithis had gone to Dovah. They purred at the idea of the tepid blood of the vampire splashing on their muzzle and dirtying their fur as they stalked closer to the mill, smiling coyly in anticipation of the-

' _Damn, smalls. You are_ way _too into this quest line. I'm starting to question letting you play._ '

"Oh, stuff it." Chara pouted and popped a chocolate-covered chisp into what was now _their_ mouth, chasing it with a swig of soda.

' _Relax, kiddo. I was_ teasing _. I've told you in the past how I tend to play, and the time that I convinced every last assassination target to drink some random hella mega-poison that I brewed up_ because I could.'

Chara wiped their fingers on their shorts and grabbed the mouse again, getting back to the game. "After this can we make dinner?"

Lori's shrug was almost audible to Chara. ' _Sure thing, shorty. What you want?_ '

Chara giggled as they massacred both the target and the target's spouse. "Umm...can we do...that stove-gone-off stuff again?"

' _Stroganoff? Sure, I don't see why not. You want to put in the temmie flakes again?_ '

Chara giggled and clapped rapidly, quickly confirming their desire to do so in rapid succession.

0-0-0-0-0

Toriel watched Sans with a worried expression. It had been a month since Lori had freed Frisk from Chara's taint, and while no one was taking her loss particularly _well_ , Sans was taking it the worst. Mettaton was taking it worse than most as well, but his schedule was keeping him busy enough to have him at least somewhat distracted.

Sans barely ate, rarely left his apartment, rarely did...pretty much anything. Most of his time now was spent sleeping; or, rather, staring at the ceiling in between bouts of nightmares, or actively having the nightmares. Toriel wasn't the only one that was worried.

Papyrus had basically forced him to come over to Toriel's for dinner when she opened the invitation. He had been just shy of picking his brother up and carrying him to the motherly monster's apartment. His brother's decline was painfully evident to him, and while he was not sure as to exactly why Lori chose to do what she had done, he knew that there had to be a reason. Had she meant to give them six months to flee the area? Papyrus somehow doubted that.

Sans had related what had happened in those first few minutes. Lori was still in there. And she was blatantly keeping Chara in line.

"BROTHER...YOU HAVE BARELY TOUCHED YOUR FOOD. IT IS NOT EVEN SPAGHETTI, THIS TIME."

Sans looked over at his brother through tired eye sockets, his mouth pulled into a frown. "'m sorry, paps, tori...just not hungry."

He blinked out of existence, and Papyrus' eye lights met with Toriel's equally worried stare.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans laid on the couch three stories up, sighing as he continued to stare at the picture that Papyrus still hadn't noticed was taped to their ceiling. Her smile, her warm, golden eyes...it was one of his favorite pictures of her, if not his most favorite. No major worries like some monster-killing gang, no guilt about losing her best friend...nothing to dim her soul. At least, not that he had known of. If her soul had been dimmed then...it would have been blinding before he had met her.

So much kindness was in those eyes, it hurt.

He absent-mindedly thumbed a jacket that she had left there, and sighed. ' _maybe...maybe i should have realized sooner. i was such an ass at first...and for the longest while..._ '

A quiet scratching sound at the lock to the front door drew his attention. Several moments after, the door creaked open quietly, revealing a short figure.

"hey, kiddo."

Frisk padded quietly across the room to the lamp next to their couch, brightening the room enough to be able to communicate clearly.

*I'm sorry, Sans.

He shrugged. "eh, forgeddaboudit. you couldn't stop her any more than i coulda."

Frisk shuffled a foot on the carpet anxiously.

*I just couldn't hold them back anymore. Chara kept pushing and pushing. I didn't mean to let them through.

"i know, kiddo. i know."

Frisk frowned softly.

*Since we just ate, do you want to lay on the floor and feel like garbage with me? It's a Blook family tradition.

Sans shrugged and laid on the floor, his hands clasped over his ribs, just below his sternum. Not much of a difference between staring at her picture here and staring at her picture on the couch.

0-0-0-0-0

Papyrus crept into the apartment he shared with his brother, not anticipating to nearly trip over not only Sans, but Frisk as well. Frisk was sound asleep, curled into a small ball on the floor near Sans' head. Sans, on the other hand…

It was hard to tell when he was awake and when he was asleep, these days.

"hey bro."

Papyrus glanced at Frisk's sleeping form and cleared his throat quietly. "Hello, brother. Her Majesty and I figured that Frisk was coming up here."

Sans shrugged, his eye sockets still closed.

"Is there some reason that you and the tiny human are on the floor?"

"we were laying on the floor feeling like garbage. it's a blook family tradition."

Papyrus paused, unable to come up with a response. He quietly cleared his throat again after several seconds. "Since the human is asleep, I shall take them to my room to put them to bed. It is rather chilly outside and I do not wish to wake them simply to take them downstairs. I shall text her Majesty that we are keeping Frisk tonight."

"'kay."

"You should perhaps move out of the middle of the-"

Sans blinked out of existence, and Papyrus heard the shuffling of his brother in his bed, curling up in his bed to try to sleep. He sighed softly and scooped Frisk up before carrying them up the stairs to his room, tucking them into his bed for the night. Trudging quietly downstairs and slipping his boots off next to the door, Papyrus made up the couch for the night, and gingerly picked up Lori's copy of _The Hobbit_ off of the side table by the couch and quietly began reading aloud to himself for a short while before tucking himself in for the night.

0-0-0-0-0

Chara peered through the tinted glass of the oven door excitedly, glancing up at the timer every few seconds. They had convinced Lori to let them make cookies, and ended up getting quite a bit of help along the way. They were shocked to discover that Lori could consciously control parts of the body, but pleased nonetheless at the help to make sure that the cookies would be edible.

The timer went off, and Chara dismissively waved off Lori as they put on the oven mitts that she made sure to remind them of. Pulling out the baking sheets and sitting them on the cooling racks set up on the oven, Chara beamed with pride. Their cookies looked delicious, and smelled even better than the scents leaking from the oven had promised. While they didn't really _want_ to let the cookies cool, they knew all too well what would happen if they didn't; Toriel _had_ cooked with fire magic, after all.

' _We should go to the grocery store today. We need to buy more groceries._ '

Chara frowned. "And how _exactly_ do you propose that we get there?"

' _I could drive us. I can see and hear what you do anyway, all I really need other than that is control of the hands and feet. You don't have to give up being the dominant personality, or anything major, and can take control again at a moment's notice. Though I honestly wouldn't recommend that while driving. Bit dangerous._ '

Chara paused, frowning in thought as she retreated momentarily to their shared mindscape with Lori. "You're sure that you won't have to control anything else?"

Lori nodded and reassuringly placed a hand on their shoulder. "Relatively sure, dear. Obviously in an emergency situation, things might change. But the likelyhood of that is hopefully rather minimal. Unless it's an emergency, I'll ask to take control of anything, ok? That's a promise."

Chara nodded slowly. "Alright. Deal."

Lori smiled, then stopped and stooped down to Chara's level, frowning as they pouted softly in thought. "What's wrong?"

They shuffled their foot anxiously and frowned deeply. "Do you think it would be a good idea to take a cookie to Sans to apologise for calling him a trashbag...and everything else? And maybe Frisk and everybody else, too?"

Lori's eyes widened. "Where's this coming from?"

Chara glared towards the floor as they crossed their arms poutily and huffed. "I don't know. I've been attached to a soul so green, it's sickening. For a month. So probably you." They paused, their gaze softening, becoming slightly pained as they looked away. "But I still feel...guilty. So I want to give people cookies and say sorry to make it stop."

Lori hesitated. "I...don't know that that will work, or that it would be the best idea. Sans might be very angry and yell if he sees you...he might even start a FIGHT. More importantly, though...you can't force someone to accept your apology, regardless of how much you mean it, or not, as the case may be. Forgiving you is on _them._ That's how my father has my forgiveness, even though he never has, and never will ask."

Chara hesitated, and Lori sighed, gesturing towards the couch. They both sat down, and Lori pursed her lips in thought for several moments before speaking.

"You know that you can trust me...right? I'm a safe person to come talk to when you feel like talking. It's better to talk with someone that you trust than it is to just let things...fester." Chara scoffed.

"Why do you want to know so bad? It's not like hearing my story will change anything."

Lori shook her head. "I can't change the past by listening to you, but I can try to help you move forward. You have to clean the infection out of a wound before it can begin to heal, right?"

Chara sighed and closed their eyes. "Fine. You want to know? I'll tell you. But only so you'll stop asking. My parents were immigrants. They came to try to escape the poverty in their homeland, but they just found roughly the same conditions, and hate from people because they were foreigners."

"Xenophobia."

Chara paused, cocking their head to the side as they felt the meaning of the word through their bond, nodding slowly. "I guess. They liked to throw rocks at my mother and myself, sell us rotten food, treat us like garbage. They eventually killed my mother."

Lori shook her head. "I think I'm beginning to understand."

Chara clenched their fists. "My father didn't care about me. As soon as my mother wasn't around to stop him, he abandoned me. The other people chased me away, and eventually I came to the peak of Mount Ebott. There was a hole. So I jumped."

Lori cringed slightly. "That much anger would start slipping out eventually."

Chara shrugged. "I guess."

Lori pulled their smaller body into hers and gently smoothed their hair. "So I take it that the lie you told Asriel was because you had figured out that you could get your revenge?"

Another shrug. Lori sighed.

"Thank you for telling me. You didn't actually have to, but you did. And that means a lot to me. Do you want to make some little containers of cookies and notes with some of the people we know to try to apologise safely?"

Chara perked up. "Notes?"

Lori nodded. "Like apology letters, but shorter. I don't know how much Tori taught you about writing, and I don't want to make you stress out too much."

"Can I write in green?"

0-0-0-0-0

"BROTHER, THERE WAS A SMALL PACKAGE IN OUR MAIL BOX FOR EACH OF US. I SUGGEST YOU COME OPEN YOURS."

Sans sighed deeply and shuffled down the stairs. Taking the small container with the note that had his name scrawled on it in green crayon, he mumbled a greeting and a word of thanks to his brother. Opening the container wordlessly, his eyes widened as he took in the scent. "paps…"

"lore made these cookies."

Papyrus stopped going through the rest of their mail to look at his brother. "What?"

His long legs took him quickly across their living room to examine the container in his brother's outstretched hand. Those _did_ look like one of the recipes that Lori had taught him...but how?

Sans shakily picked up the note in a small plastic bag, and opened it, reading it quickly before handing it to Papyrus. Papyrus watched his brother slowly pick up a cookie and slowly take a bite out of it, before reading the note carefully, taking note of the sloppy, green crayon marks forming the poorly spelled words of the note, the letters all of the same height, with seemingly only one kind of each letter present; either capital or lowercase.

 **deeR sans,**

 **Lori HaLpd me maek cookeez, and i wantd to giv yu sum to sey soRee for aLL tha bad stuf i did to yu and maeking yu sad. i Hope yu can furgiv me.**

 **cHaRa**

In small, neatly scripted letters in the bottom right of the note, were four words written in light blue ink pen that Papyrus couldn't make out, even if sounded out phonetically.

"BROTHER, WHAT IS THIS 'IK HOU VAN JE'?"

Sans smiled softly, tears faintly staining his cheek bones. "lore. it's a message from lore."

0-0-0-0-0

Lori rolled her eyes as Chara insisted on punching the ground meat mixture in the pyrex bowl, but they were having fun and Lori couldn't complain about that. What made her even happier was that the week prior, not only had going to the grocery store gone off without a hitch, but apparently, so had leaving cookies with notes for several people, including Frisk, Toriel, and the skelebros. Several texts had even come in to her phone for Chara, who had initially been hesitant about responding, but after some coaxing from Lori, Chara had managed to even strike up full conversations with Frisk and Toriel.

And, most importantly, Sans had gotten her message, and understood it. Chara had listened to her when she told them that letting her write those four words on the bottom of Sans' note would lend credibility to the apology, making Sans more likely to believe it. While they weren't sure why she had been so happy when they said yes, they had known that she hadn't been lying about the potential that that might make him believe their sincerity. While they hadn't been sure of what they should expect, a text telling them that Sans would _actually consider_ _forgiving them_ hadn't been on the list.

Lori nudged Chara mentally and reminded them to not be too rough with the meat mixture, or the loaves would get too hard and dry in spots. Chara grunted softly and went back to folding to make sure that everything was mixed properly, before dividing things up into the loaf pans and washing their hands.

' _Remember to put foil over them first._ '

Lori smiled as they nodded in response while they lathered and rinsed in the decently hot water. She was content with the way things were going currently.

"Can we do some of that bendy twisty stuff after dinner?"

' _You mean yoga? I don't see why not. We could even_ rearrange our organs.' Chara gasped and cringed slightly at the thought, making Lori laugh. ' _It's alright. It isn't anything bad, I promise. Just some fun stretches that help with back and hip problems, and promote digestion._ '

"Oh." Chara shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that would be good."

Lori nodded and resumed supervision of dinner preparations.

0-0-0-0-0

She daintily wove her fingers together as she continued her surveyance. Everything with Lori was seemingly going fine, and she was managing to make some headway with the child. There was still no sign of any activity on the part of any anti-monster 'activists', which while beneficial in allowing her to make preparations of her own and help oversee the preparations of others. Surveyance and communications...old habits died hard, apparently. Not that she minded.

Humans had ruined _everything_. But some were trying to make reparations now, just like then. But while the balance of support to opposition was more in their favor than it had been in the past, that didn't mean that there was total support. Just...tolerance.

But tolerance would have to do.

She glanced to her right at the faint tugging on her sleeve, gingerly accepting the proffered information card. Skimming the information brought to her before letting out a tired sigh and filing the card into its proper log of information. Shaking her head gently at the continued dearth of knowledge, she pulled out her phone to relate the continued lack of information to Grillby as she smoothed her pigtails back into place.

"Tell your siblings to stay put at Lorilai's, dearie. Remind them that shift change is tomorrow at midnight." Her littlest spider scampered off quickly to deliver its messages, and she stood, brushing off her skirts and walking out the door.

0-0-0-0-0

 _"Lorilai, cammere fer a moment, aye?"_

 _He smiled as he watched the child that still had the faint roundness of baby fat in her face jog across the house eagerly, climbing clumsily up onto his lap when he was in reach. "Stor' time?"_

 _He laughed. "In a manner o' speakin', wee one. This story be true, but we all be stories in the end." Her eyes widened and she wriggled down into his lap attentively as he slowly and rhythmically rocked the chair. "Ver' long ago, err'yone had magic. Some had stronger magic than others, aye, but they had magic all the same. Eventually, people began to gather inta two groups; people who had magic so strong tha' they were_ made _o' magic, and people who had weaker magic, but had stronger bodies fer it. The two could still mix and mingle, and some children were had between members of the two groups. But as time went on, those with the weaker magic began to fear those with the stronger magic. They shunned them, forced them to live away from them, and looked down on those that were born of both groups._

 _"Let us call those with the stronger magic the 'arrachtaigh', and those with weak magic the 'daoine'. The arrachtaigh accepted their new place in the world, and hoped fer peace, fer coexistence, without a fight. But the daoine were greedy, and still fearful of the arrachtaigh. One day, a group o' the daoine wanted some o' the land where the arrachtaigh had been livin'. The leader o' the group o' arrachtaigh asked the daoine, 'But where will we go? The daoine have the lands all around our borders; we cannot leave here.' The daoine leader stood up tall, and threatened the arrachtaigh. But the arrachtaigh were not strong physically; they could only defend themselves with their magic. So when the arrachtaigh leader flinched back to defend himself, his magic acted on its own, readying itself to be used in his defense."_

 _Lorilai's eyes widened even further as he called forth faint blue flames to dance across his fingers to illustrate his point. "The years o' fear and separation took their toll, and the daoine lashed out, fearing that the arrachtaigh were attackin'. They, in their ignorance, began to push down the arrachtaigh. It was easy! They barely put up a fight, and not a single daoine was hurt. The few arrachtaigh that had escaped the attack had fled in the commotion, runnin' fast to the other nearby villages. When they returned with help, all that was left was ruined buildings and dust._

 _"The arrachtaigh used their magic to communicate with their king, far, far away from the small, ruined village. But the small village was not the only place where this was happening. Other villages, in places far from the village of dusty debris, were having the same things happening to them._

 _"And so the arrachtaigh began their long walk, meetin' hostility at err' corner and turn. The daoine followed them and found them and chased them across the land, across the mountains, across the lakes and rivers and seas. Where'er they turned, lookin' to make a new home, they found more angry, fearful daoine. And where'er they went, more of the arrachtaigh were pushed down, regardless of how hard they fought. And in the end, all that was left were tears and dust, and a trail leadin' far from their homes._

 _"The daoine eventually chased the arrachtaigh to the point where they were cornered, and faced with two options; they could fight and be pushed down, or they could retreat underground."_

 _Lorilai tugged on his sleeve, startling him and causing him to reflexively quench his flames. "Aye, wee one?"_

 _"But how comes them are-ack-tay peoples didn't just let those mean ol' doo-een-ah push 'em over, an' get back up 'n spank 'em on the butt or somfin?"_

 _He nodded slowly. "Aye, that might work, were they able to get up after bein' pushed down. But the arrachtaigh had gotten so physically weak, that when ye push them down, they_ become _dust."_

 _Lorilai's lip quivvered as she began to understand. "You mean thems doo-een-ahs hurt the are-ack-tays real bad by pushing them down 'n...killed 'em?" He nodded grimly._

 _"Faced with that choice, the arrachtaigh king sighed. He was tired o' runnin'. He wanted to keep his people safe. So he ordered the retreat underground, and went far, deep into the caverns. Seven daoine sages with strong magic, well versed with spells and the like, had gathered at that entrance to the deep, coming from all across the world to see to it tha' the arrachtaigh would be sealed, never to see the surface again. Some o' the arrachtaigh that hadn'a escaped the daoine had been captured, no' pushed down. Testin' their magics and theories on the poor prisoners, they found a way to use arrachtaigh magic and daoine magic to seal the only entrance to the underground. The mountain was solid and secure, save fer tha' one hole. Calling fer volunteers, seven of the daoine came forward and offered their help._

 _"The first was brave, and didn'a mind that the sages mentioned tha' this was dangerous. The second wanted justice, to make sure that there would be no more war with these arrachtaigh. The third was kind, and only wanted to help however they could. The fourth was a daoine of great integrity; they could not stand by idly when they could help protect others. The fifth was steadfast; he had fought the arrachtaigh in the war, and would continue for as long as it took to ensure success, regardless of the hardships he might have to endure. The sixth was patient, and willing to delay going home if it meant ending the war fer' good.. The last was fiercely determined, and was willing to do wha'e'er was necessary to seal the arrachtaigh away for good._

 _"The sages called upon every last drop of magic in the souls of these seven volunteers, and drew it forth from them, pooling it together to form a large, crystalline gemstone. Once they were sure tha' these volunteers had been fully drained, they added what magic from the arrachtaigh tha' they could, and began to form it into a great, impenetrable barrier, sealing away the arrachtaigh. In their arrogance, they left it with a small flaw, a single weakness tha' they couldn'a manage to temper out. With the power of another seven daoine souls and a strong arrachtaigh soul, the barrier could be broken. But the mountain was large, as steadfast and strong as the fifth daoine, and with the only entrance sealed, no daoine could ever go in, and there was nary a single arrachtaigh left free in the world, and none could ever come out with the seal in place. With no way fer' the barrier to be broken, they left, and returned to their homes across the world. The barrier still stands to this day, wee one, and tha' arrachtaigh may very well still be alive, deep under the mountain."_

 _The stairs to the living room creaked, and Lorilai whipped her head around just in time to see her crest the top of the stairs, her mellow, olivine skin folding slightly on her forehead as her piercing emerald eyes stared at the pair in the living room with worry._

 _"Da' she's_ three _. She don' need nightmare fuel jus' before her bloody nap! Ya said ye were gon' tell her a story, no tha' stuff 'bout tha' arrachtaigh an' tha' daoine, which ya still insist is true. Cammon, Lori, time fer' yer' nap, dear."_

 _Lorilai slid off of her grandfather's knee and began to follow after her mother. She paused, turning to her grandfather, and held a single one of her tiny pale fingers to her lips. "I beliebe you, Pappaw. Don' worry."_


	11. Open Communication

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THIS, I'M NOT SPONSORED, ETC. The Sound of Silence-Simon and Garfunkle**

CHAPTER TEN

 _Hello Darkness, my old friend._

Sans readied himself for the fight he knew all too well. Their laughter, their moves, their _determination_. He made sure that Paps' scarf was secure with his free hand, not caring if the kid saw his hand plate now. This was kill...or be killed.

 _I've come to talk with you again._

He sighed. Judging by the slightly crazed look in the kid's eyes, they weren't going to stop this any time soon. "hmm. that expression...that's the expression of someone who's died eleven times in a row. well, give or take. there's nuance to this stuff. don't think i'll be able to count very well from here. count for me, ok? we'll start from 12." He knew that Chara wouldn't enjoy any of his stabs at their frustration, which would just make his job harder. But he didn't care.

 _Because a vision softly creeping…_

He shook his head as the kid steeled themselves and took those steps forward. "it's a beautiful day outside. birds are singing, flowers are blooming... on days like these-"

 _Left its seeds while I was sleeping…_

Before his eyes, the child some part of him remembered as 'Frisk' _changed_. Brown hair lengthened and bled to black. Ruby irises shining brightly with hate shifted to become amber pools filled with impossible amounts of kindness and love. Lorilai stood before him, eye to eye, smiling softly in that way that made his heart _melt_.

 _And the vision that was planted in my brain…_

She quickly and calmly closed the gap between them, his magic withdrawn at the sudden lack of danger. Her lips pressed gently against his teeth as she pulled him close, and he could feel tears threatening to show themselves due to the sheer relief of having her back. She gently pushed him back slightly, her hands on his shoulders as her lips quirked sharply upwards into a crooked grin. Familiar laughter filled his skull as her hand plunged into him, tearing his soul from his chest. " **She's** _ **mine**_ **, Trashbag.** " Her fingers curled around the dimming light of his soul, the sound of her maddened giggling the last thing he heard as she crushed his soul into dust.

 _Still remains within the sound of silence._

0-0-0-0-0

Sans lurched forward, his magic flaring brightly as he woke from his nightmare. It had been nearly five months. While Lori had clearly made headway with helping Chara to resolve their issues, it evidently still wasn't enough to at least regain her dominance. While the child had become far more amiable, he wasn't sure whether they had become anywhere near trustworthy yet. Lori seemed to trust them enough, however...she basically had to.

His phone buzzed softly in his jacket pocket, and he pulled it out to glance at the notification. Sascha had reached out to him on social networking after he hadn't heard from Lori for two weeks, and was checking in yet again to see if she had managed to make any progress. Sans had explained the situation, and while Sascha had been less than thrilled, he understood the 'why' of it. Sans had asked him to keep things fairly under wraps, and, as far as he could tell, Sascha had been a man of his word.

Muffet had been keeping an eye on many locations, and one of the ones she had been more than happy to cover had been Sascha's shop. While not as eager, she had still agreed to also keep an eye on his apartment, and had promised to notify Sans of anything remotely out of the ordinary at either location, as well as with Lori. The message from Lori had been an indicator from him not just that she was safe, but that she still had Chara under control. And that had to be good enough for him for now.

After responding to Sascha, he sent a quick message to Muffet, nodding as she quickly replied with the answer that he had been anticipating; no change. He slipped his phone back into his pocket, slid on his shoes, and headed out the door to work.

0-0-0-0-0

Lori and Chara breathed in deeply, and exhaled calmly through their mouth. On Lori's suggestion, Chara had agreed to try mediation to try to harmonize them slightly better.

' _We're out of synch. Our bond is like cling wrap draped over a pear or an apple. While it is sufficient in the immediate, it is insufficient in the long run,_ ' she had said. Chara admitted that they weren't always...the most coordinated. They couldn't even access her monster magic, but…

From what Lori had said, they had managed to access her human magic. And they wanted it to stop.

It _hurt._ Not physically, per se. But the sheer level of emotional pain made their chest _ache_. Their soul _burned_ with guilt.

"Lori…"

' _Yes, Chara?_ '

"Why does it hurt?"

Hesitation. Lori pulled them into their mindscape and pulled them into a warm embrace just as Toriel had done with her not that long ago.

"What do you mean, Charmander? Has something dimmed your flame?"

They clung to her gently. "You remind me of Toriel."

Lori nodded. "Is that what hurts?"

"No...I still feel guilty. My heart hurts."

"Guilty for everything you did?" They nodded. "Asriel and Toriel have forgiven you. Frisk and Asgore have forgiven you. Undyne and Alphys...Muffet...Papyrus...Mettaton...everyone. Even Sans has mostly forgiven you. But there's one person left that you still have to ask for forgiveness."

Chara perked up, their eyes watery as they demanded that Lori tell them. Lori shook her head quietly, a small frown on her face. "I suppose it would be hard for you to realize, in a way. So determined to get revenge for the longest time, you're only now remembering how to ask for forgiveness."

Lori smoothed their hair and smiled sadly. "The person you forgot to ask for forgiveness is yourself."

Their eyes went wide, staring at her as though she had grown a second head. "I...have to forgive myself?"

Lori nodded. "Your determination to get revenge was so strong that you didn't stop to think about all of the ways that you could go about _getting_ that revenge. It became so _toxic_ to you that your determination actually started to become _tainted_. You began to hurt yourself in order to adhere to your unflinching desire to get your revenge. You failed to realize that the best way to get revenge on the humans who hurt you...was to keep living, being happy with people different than you. Something they could never be.

"People that would have been well within their rights to hate and fear you _took you in_. Raised you as one of their own. But you couldn't enjoy it, not really. Your revenge consumed you, and it lead to your death. And now here you are; just as fragmented as Asriel, with nobody to blame but yourself.

"The determined can end up hurting themselves and everyone around them to meet a goal. The perseverant can forget their limits and try to endure too much. The kind can let themselves get taken advantage of to a point where they lash out cruelly. The brave can grow cocky and reckless, and eventually either hurt themselves, sometimes irreparably, or worse. The patient can become lazy. The integrous can abandon their morals to uphold the morals of others, or even select few of their own. The just can take things too far, and remove true justice from an equation.

"It's part of being not just human, but a _person_. What's important and shows your true colours is whether or not you can come back from that. And I know you can. I believe in you."

Chara sighed and slipped out of their shared space. ' _I'll leave you alone for now, if you want._ '

"Please."

Forgiving...themselves? They had so many people that they hadn't ever forgiven, they...weren't sure if they had ever had to have really forgiven someone.

Maybe Sans wasn't the trashbag after all.

Sans! That was it! Sans had managed to forgive them after...everything. Maybe Sans could tell them how to forgive themselves.

"Can we make dinner and invite Sans over? Just Sans. I wanna talk to him."

' _What time is it? I haven't seen a watch or a clock in...fuck knows how long._ '

Chara went to the antique clock in the living room and stared at it for several long moments. "How...how do I do this?"

' _Can you count well?_ '

"Mom said so."

' _Can you count by_ fives _?_ '

"You mean...like...5, 10, um...15?"

' _Yep. Each tick mark on the side is the five. You read it to the right. The long hand tells the minutes. The short hand reads the big printed numbers to tell the hour._ '

Chara paused and mumbled under their breath for several moments as they tried to follow Lori's explanation. "You mean...it's 4 uh...17, I guess?"

' _Closer to 4:19, but yes. Good Job. We can do dinner instead of lunch. What do you want to make?_ '

"He likes burgers and fries, right?"

0-0-0-0-0

Sans stared at his phone screen, unsure of what to do. He was sure that his magic was flaring at the sheer shock of it all, ready to defend him, but...he wasn't sure if it was actually necessary. He had messaged Sascha to confirm that the translation he had gotten wasn't wrong...and it wasn't.

He read the message again, slowly.

[lore: deer sans, i have a kwest shun i have to ask you can you cum over fur dinner lori and i maid burgers and frys i need your help with sum thing]

[lore: neem haar vertrouwen. ik hou van je.]

Exhaling slowly to try to calm himself down, he stood up and got ready to leave. _"i love you too, lore. i'll trust her, for you."_

He scribbled down a note for Papyrus, and sent a quick text to let Muffet know of his plan before feeling for a weak spot. Finding one, he stepped through to the Void.

He didn't often take his time here. It felt wrong, despite feeling familiar. It wasn't darkness; it was nothingness, a pure absence of light, or anything else for that matter, save for a select few things. He felt his feet dragging slightly in hesitation, and sighed. How could he be anywhere near sure that he wasn't just walking into a trap? For all he knew, Chara had managed to tap into Lore's mind and learn dutch just to trick him.

He felt the familiar tugs of a rift, and knew he would be right about Lore's house, though he could never be sure if this was her pool, or her living room. Those two rifts traded places occasionally, and he had ended up fully clothed in her pool one too many times for his comfort. In the deep end.

Stepping through hesitantly, he was relieved to find himself in her living room, and alone. The smell through her house was amazing; clearly she had either had a hand in these or had taught Chara quite a lot about cooking. He couldn't really be sure which. She was a good teacher.

He shuffled quietly towards the kitchen where he heard a low conversation, not sure of what to expect. A knife in surprise when they hadn't heard him show up? Or had Chara gotten access to her magic? Ice, then? Or maybe she already knew, and-

He rounded the corner, and there she was. His Lori. Wait…

Lavender eyes. The blue trying to peek through the red.

"Lori said that you might like this." Their cheeks flared with a blush as they offered him a bottle of ketchup almost robotically. He glanced at the security seal. Still intact. He took it, cracked the seal, and took a drink.

"EW, LORI, YOU MEAN HE DRINKS IT? HE REALLY, ACTUALLY DRINKS IT?"

He blinked. "whadidja think i was doin all those times at grillbs'? i know you were in there when i took frisk, kid."

They shrugged. "Iunno, dumping it on your shoulder or something, I guess?"

He shrugged, giving a lazy smile. "guess not. you wanted help with something?"

Chara blinked. "You mean...you...actually, really came to help?"

He nodded. "you 'n lore asked me, kid. even if i wanted to, i couldn't turn ya down if she asked too."

They shuffled their feet nervously. "Do...you want to eat first? Lori taught me how to make burgers. She even let me taste some of that...that...wuss-stir-sure stuff all by itself. I don't know how something so nasty can make the burgers so tasty, but it does."

He shrugged. "sure thing, kid."

They jumped into action, plating food with youthful glee and taking various things to the table. He watched, taking stock of how her body had been faring under what was technically someone else's maintenance. She seemed relatively ok. While her nails hadn't been painted in an age and she had several impressively noticeable inches of roots in her bangs, she didn't seem to have lost or gained any weight; if anything, she had actually managed to stay roughly the same in fitness level. How Lori had managed to convince the kid to keep up with her fitness routine, he wasn't sure, and he was positive that the kid would have wanted to eat more junk food than Lori would normally let herself eat.

"you, ah...need any help with that stuff, kid?"

"Lori says that it's polite to serve houseguests."

He stared for a moment, then shrugged. They had almost everything set out anyway. It was when they pulled out a large jug out of the fridge that he started to question things.

"chocolate milk?"

Lavender eyes flickered to blue before they drifted to the floor with a saddened, pouty look. "Lori won't let me have caffeine. She says that I don't need it, even if I want it. I can't even sneak any. She says to not question her parenting."

' _her_ parenting _? is that what she's been doin'?_ ' He shrugged. "okay, kid. i won't."

They slowly and cautiously poured their milk into their glass. Sitting down quietly, they looked up at Sans expectantly, waiting for him to follow suit across the table. He did, looking down at the food that they had put on his plate. While the presentation wasn't nearly as neat as Lori's was when she bothered serving plates instead of letting people serve themselves off of serving dishes put on the table, it didn't look half bad; the fries were a deep golden brown, the patty was seared on the edges and clearly juicy, and mostly centered on the bun, which had been lightly fried on the insides. The mushrooms and swiss didn't take up the whole burger, just like Lore knew he liked, and the onions were raw instead of cooked, again, like Lore knew he liked.

They had even set the squeeze bottle of ketchup next to his plate and brought him a fork.

He looked over at Chara, and caught them hastily looking away. Did they want to make sure that he thought it was okay?

"looks good, kid."

They beamed in his direction, clearly excited. "Really?! Lori let me do the whole thing by myself, just giving me directions sometimes! She always lets me measure and add the temmie flakes, but she let me do everything this time! She even told me how you like it when I asked."

He arched a brow bone. "what has you so wound up that you wanted to butter me up? what's the favor?"

They gently poked at their food, mumbling poutily. "'S not a favor."

He squirted a hefty amount of ketchup on his food, put the ketchup back, and picked up his fork. "what's the occasion then?"

"Sans...I know you don't like me. But you still forgave me. How?"

He practically choked. "what kind of question is that, kid?"

They groaned in frustration and flopped their head down to rest on their hands. "Lori says I have to forgive myself so I can move forward from everything that happened...everything I did. I don't know how."

"you tried asking her?"

"She says I have to figure it out on my own, that she can't help me, because only I can forgive me."

He shrugged and took another bite. "she's right. why'd ya call me in, then?"

They blinked in shock for a moment. "I figured you hated me, but you still forgave me. If anyone could give me tips on how to forgive me, I figured it would be you." They sighed. "I just want the dreams to stop."

That piqued his interest. "dreams, kid?"

They shook their head sadly. "You can't help. I asked Lori and she said that it's her human magic affecting me. I tried, even with her help, and I still can't get at her monster magic."

"...what kind of dreams?"

They shuddered. "Everything I did...everything I could do in the future...and in the end, I'm all alone. Even Lori was gone."

Sans grunted in surprise. "huh...guess you've really grown attached to her, haven't ya, kid?" They nodded.

"She reminds me of Mom."

"ya mean…?"

"Toriel, yeah." They nodded sadly.

He hated to admit it, but he actually felt bad for the kid. They wanted to move forward. "mind if I take a look at your soul, kid?"

They shrugged. Either they trusted him...or they didn't care. He called it forward gently, and stared in amazement. He knew what Chara's red sheen used to look like. But now?

The taint was almost completely gone.

"has lore been healing you or something?"

They perked up. "What? Why?"

He pointed. "i know what you used to look like. pretty well, actually. i still have nightmares about it sometimes." They cringed. "But your tainted determination...i don't really wanna phrase it like this kid, but it's like it's been purified." They stared in amazement.

"I...I don't know…"

"can I talk to lori?" He flinched as they pouted in his direction.

"Why? So you can try to convince her to try to get rid of me, or overpower me or something?"

He shook his head. "i just wanna ask her about your soul, kid. and believe me." He sighed, smiling fondly. "she ain't the kind of person that would do those things. i know her. the possibility would have occurred to her. but if she hasn't, then she won't."

Chara sighed sadly. "Okay, Sans." Closing their eyes and focusing for a few moments, they let Lori drift to the surface. When her eyes opened, there wasn't a single trace of purple or red remaining.

"Hey, Vertibae."

He fought back the tears that threatened to make themselves known. "hey."

She smiled. "It's good to see you, Sans. What did you want to ask? And since I already heard, no, I haven't been healing their soul to remove the taint these past few months. I'm not sure green magic can work like that, and even if I had wanted to try, I can't access any of my magic when I'm stuck on the inside. Only Chara can. And they can't manage to use any of Blooky's magic, even when they do manage to touch it."

"it's so good to see you too, lore." He sighed, trying to regain his composure. "do you know what's been happening to the taint, then? has it just spread to you?"

Lori paused in thought, seemingly evaluating the occurrences of the past few months. "It's probably the council and emotional health that I've been offering them. Taint is something that my family had a good bit of experience with in the past, and so I know about it a bit more than others might. It's easiest to see in determination, but it can happen with any trait. I figure emotional health is just as important for monsters to maintain, if not moreso. When you know what you're dealing with...reversing corruption of a trait can actually be halfway simple."

He stared in shock. She knew more about this aspect of soul health than most monster doctors did. What else did she know?

She hesitated. "I'll...take that look as meaning that that isn't common knowledge to monsters?"

"no, it ain't. and most humans didn't know shit about souls before we managed to get out of the Underground...so, how do you?"

Lori shrugged. "Spirit, soul, vital essence, aura...whatever you want to call it, most humans aren't strangers to the general concept. But humans are pretty big on quantifiable evidence. If we cannot see, smell, taste, touch, or hear it, we don't like to believe that it exists. I, for one, am not convinced on the existence of a deity. But I was raised by pagans from a long line of pagans. Nature and life have always been sacred to my family, and I was raised with these values. Trained, a human such as myself can perceive auras...the faint glow our souls give off when contained within our bodies. With faith and a trained eye, it's perceivable. But it is not, and cannot be seen by those that don't believe in it's existence. Less of a problem now, but before monsters came back to the world, no one could call forth a visible soul. No quantifiable proof."

She picked up a fry and took a bite, closing her eyes to savor it. "This is the first thing i've tasted in five months. I can see what Chara does, I can hear what Chara does...but I can't taste, smell, or touch what they do. I must admit, they really wanted to impress you to try to make you hate them a little less so they might get the answer they seek. This is pretty damn good food."

Sans cringed as her eyes flickered purple for a several moments, growing distant. "I suppose not." She turned to him again, smiling sadly. "Chara believes you have your answer, and I agree. You came here to see them, not me. I should go, and let you two talk." His smile fell.

"when will i see you again?"

Lori shrugged. "Not too long, I hope. I have a hypothesis I'd like to test soon, but you never know. Things might work out differently. You're patient. Wait for me a bit longer. I promise, I'll come back."

"i waited this long, lore. i'll keep waiting."

0-0-0-0-0

His minion shrunk back at his presence, and it was good; everyone should know their place. Their plans had been going smoothly thus far, though he had to admit that Lorilai's sudden entrance into seclusion frustrated him. Her soul had been flickering with worry and fear so delightfully.

He sighed and began barking orders as was the norm, calling for the underling responsible for informing the rest of the organization about upcoming plans. Pinching the fold of skin between his brows in frustration, he listened the frantic scrabbling of the whelp that could only be described as his "secretary". While they had not yet proven themselves worthy enough yet to be given monster magic, they still had their uses.

"Y-yes, Master Erik?"

"Let everyone else know that we move soon. The congregation will be held in three days time to discuss the details of this attack."


	12. Revelations

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN UNDERTALE, ETC. I'M NOT SPONSORED OR ANYTHING, SO ON AND SO FORTH.**

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Lori and Chara yelped as Sans blinked into existence before them, his expression grim and his soul thrumming with fear. "Sans…?"

"we have trouble. come with me."

Chara took his hand and closed their eyes, finding themselves in a new location after several uncomfortable moments. Blasted by the sudden presence of multiple sources of fear all at once, they began to look around, taking stock of the situation. Several people Lori recognized were several blocks away at the edge of what had roughly become the 'monster neighborhood', magic flaring. They were in the parking lot of the apartment building where Toriel and the skelebros lived, multiple monsters in the lot, reeling in fear.

Toriel approached, Frisk clinging to her skirts. "Sans?"

"i brought lori n chara to see if they could help."

Chara and Lori perked up, brows knitting together in confusion. "Help with what?"

Toriel shook her head. "The entire neighborhood is in danger, my children. Anti-monster activists have shown up at the edges of the neighborhood, and have weapons."

Lori pushed to the front, hastily apologizing to Chara. "Have the police been contacted?"

"Only one officer has been sent. They looked at the situation and said that they could do nothing at this time, and to call if things get worse."

Lori frowned. ' _What do you think, Chara?_ '

' _We have to help however we can._ '

She nodded sharply, her expression grim. "I have a plan. I need some things to pull it off, though. Sans, could you take me back home for a few? I need some supplies." He nodded and pulled her back through the Void, returning them to her living room. "Could you go to the altar out back and get the small chest in the storage space below the top? I need to run down to my fireproof safe and get something."

She turned on her heel and started down the stairs from her living room and threw open the door to the den. Hastily grabbing the key to her safe from one of her desk drawers, she opened the safe as quickly as possible. She ran her fingertip delicately along the ancient spines, finding the appropriate book, and pulled it from the dusty shelf. Hastily closing the safe and locking it tight, replacing the key, and running back up the stairs, she found Sans with the chest she had requested.

"got everything?" She nodded, and he took her arm, pulling her back through the Void.

"Toriel, you keep everyone here calm and under control. Sans, Paps is a bit of a softie, you might want to go trade places with him and send him back here. I need a few to set things up, and then I'll be getting started." She glanced around, raising her voice to make sure that she was clearly heard by thoe monsters in the immediate area. "I need everyone to stay back from what I'm doing. This is dangerous and I don't want any of you all getting hurt."

Lori carefully began to scribe her circle with chalk from her chest using the book as her guide. Papyrus jogged towards the lot quietly, surveying the area and summoning forth bone barriers in several locations to try to prevent sneak attacks. He watched Lori cautiously as she mumbled softly under her breath while she scrawled on the ground. "Human Lori, how will that help the situation?"

She ignored him. Focusing intently on the concentric shapes and the ancient words and the placement of her crystals and gemstones, Lori continued to prepare her space...and herself. Minutes passed. She looked over her work. This phase was complete.

"Frisk, dear, cammere. I need to ask a favor."

They cautiously slid away from their mother and walked over to Lori, unsure of what she could possibly need. Lori smiled sadly and ruffled their hair once they were close enough. "What I'm about to do is pretty dangerous, and I want to make sure that _absolutely_ nobody that doesn't have to get hurt gets hurt. And that means Chara, too."

' _Wait, what?_ _ **WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?**_ _TELL ME NOW, LORI!_ '

She brushed off Chara's worried tones and withdrew her soul. "Chara's taint is almost all gone now, see? And they don't even have to latch on to your soul if you don't want them to. Chara, would it be alright if Frisk held you for a bit?"

Frisk hesitated as her eyes flickered to purple for several moments, and gaped in amazement as the faint red sheen covering Lori's soul began to peel back, forming into a small, fractured heart-shape, floating down gently into their cupped hands. Lori's eyes returned to normal, and she smiled sadly. "Go back to your momster, kiddo. It'd kill me if anyone else here got hurt."

She stood back up and watched as they hastily jogged back to Toriel, showing her what remained of Chara's soul carefully. Toriel covered her mouth as her eyes began to water, and she looked to Lori questioningly. A sad smile and a half-hearted thumbs up was all Lori could manage before turning to pull several other things from her chest.

Skimming the book propped in the corner of her arm, she withdrew various ingredients, a large mortar and pestle, a book of matches, a specific, hand-made incense formed into small pucks, seven black pillar candles, and her athame and boline. Following the book, she placed the candles around the circle she had scribed at specific points, placed the incense pucks in small circles in the cardinal directions, and opened the circle with her athame, stepping in gingerly with the rest of what she had gathered as to not disturb the chalk lines.

Lori carefully lit the candles and the incense with the small book of matches, tossing them aside afterward carefully as to not disturb the chalk lines. She placed specific amounts of ingredients into the mortar, following the steps recorded in the book explicitly. Grinding them carefully into a coarse powder, she resumed reciting the words scribed in the book quietly, making sure that none of the ingredients fell from the mortar. When she felt she had reached the appropriate consistency, she carefully sat down the pestle and grabbed her boline.

Continuing the recitation of the ages-old words, she gripped the blade of her boline with her left hand and pulled her palm along the sharp, silver blade. Several of the monsters she didn't know that were watching, as well as Frisk, Toriel, and Papyrus, yelped in surprise as deep crimson liquid began to trail from her clenched fist into the mixture in her mortar.

"HUMAN!"

"Lorilai, my child…?"

She glanced back to ensure that they had not approached her circle, and went back to her work, carefully mixing everything together with her fingers. ' _I really shouldn't be doing this alone, but what choice is there?_ '

It was strange to have her mind all to herself for once. She couldn't say that she had been expecting this sensation so soon. She sighed, gripping her boline tightly in her uninjured hand, steeling herself for what she was about to do.

She winced as she used her injured hand to call her soul from her chest, but she was unwilling to waste her magic stores to heal her hand when she would need them soon. Frowning softly, she looked over her soul, trying to place exactly where she should begin. The small remaining sliver of her exposed human soul at the tip of one of the rounded sections of her soul would have to suffice. She would let Blooky's magic have no part in this.

The incense assaulted her senses. Her eyes burned, her body ached, her every breath stung, and her mouth tasted like ash. It was affecting her soul nearly as much as her physical body, causing her soul to shimmer, leaving a diluted tingling sensation over her body. Lori coated the blade of her boline with the mixture, and gently applied some to the last of her unfused human magic.

Gritting her teeth, Lori touched the blade to the edge of her fusion. Her fists clenched, and every muscle in her body tightened as the pain began. Her soul gave off a high pitched squeal, like dry ice touched by a penny. It grew louder and louder as Lori continued, and she forced her eyes to stay open despite the tears that sprung up from the immeasurable pain. The mixture was insufficient to mute her pain, but the process seemed to be working.

The pain worsened as she hit the halfway point, and she gasped in pain, still fighting off the urge to scream. She could see the crystallization taking place; she simply had to endure the process until the end. A secondary high pitched whine came from her soul, piercing her ears as though her soul was _begging_ her to stop. She could see Papyrus and Toriel out of the corner of her eye, hiding Frisk from the sight, staring at her in...awe? Disgust? Fear? Her senses were too clouded to tell.

She felt her boline give way, and dropped it to catch the small gem formed from her soul as the rest of her soul fled back into her chest. It thrummed gently, weakly, and she fell forward slightly, supporting herself on one hand so she wouldn't put her pain and sacrifice to waste. She weakly called for Papyrus.

He came towards her hesitantly, unsure of whether what he thought he had just witnessed was really what had just happened. "Hu-...human Lori?"

She struggled to stand, and held out her fist. Papyrus held out a gloved hand, and gasped as Lori gently placed a small, vivid green stone in his palm. "You're faster than I am right now, Paps. I need you to do me a favor." Her voice was soft, scratchy. "I need you to guard that, but more importantly, I need you to take it and what is left of the mixture I made, and mark the edges of the neighborhood. A little of the mix on the corner of a building or on a sidewalk would do, so long as you mark all the corners. Do you think that you could manage that?"

His eyelights traveled between the mortar she offered him, the small gem she had placed in his hand, and her face. She had paled significantly, and the whites of her eyes had blackened. Whatever she had done had certainly taken a toll. "O-of course, Lori. You should see the Queen and have her heal you."

Lori smiled wanly. "Thanks Paps." She bent over to extinguish the candles as he turned and jogged off to start on the task she had given him, and broke her circle. Grinding the pucks into the asphalt with her shoe and beginning to put away the rest of the supplies that she could. She paused, dropping into a kneel as an intense wave of dizziness washed over her. ' _I'm burning up…_ '

She felt the large hand of Toriel on her shoulder, and the cool metal of a soul monitor placed on her forehead. The faint beeps came after several long moments, and Lori tried to glance at the motherly monster over her shoulder after Toriel let slip a frightened gasp. "Lori, my child...what did you do?"

She took the monitor from Toriel and read it carefully through squinted, burning eyes. Her HP had been halved permanently...but her magic levels had roughly doubled. Her soul was practically _screaming_ , and that was more than evident in the readings. What shocked Lori most...was that the lines of demarcation where her soul had been fusing to Blooky's...were _both_ gone, not just the one.

Lori grunted softly and handed the monitor back to Toriel. Something was coming. Her soul was preparing magic on instinct, whether to attack or shield herself, she was unsure. What had been left...what she removed...was her ability to raise her shields, to try to block out or filter the emotional noise. If she was in contact with that piece of her soul, she should still be able to use that part of her magic...but she hoped that the amplification during crystallization would help it to block more than just emotions. It would at least mean that it could be left here to help protect her family while she was elsewhere.

She had figured that the damage done would impact her HP, but the snap to being fully fused was a surprise. Everything was as gathered and picked up as it could be, and Papyrus was working on getting the shield erected. Lori shook her head softly and forced herself onto her feet again, beginning to make her way to where Sans and the others were holding the line. There were two...no...three. Three angry humans that wanted blood.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans and the others manning the stand-off at the edge of the neighborhood had heard the squeals and whines of a soul being tortured, and were more than just on edge. They were genuinely afraid. Sans had mentioned to the others that Lori was working on some kind of plan to help the situation, so when Undyne spotted Lori walking towards their group, no one was overly surprised. It was when she got closer that their alarm was sparked.

"lore...what the _ **hell**_ did you do?"

She shook her head, the faint blue flames dancing over her body and eating away at her clothing moving with her. "What I had to. Chara is still safe, and hopefully everyone else will be soon as well. Has Paps been through here yet?"

"yeah. he smeared some reddish black shit in a couple places. what's going on, lore?"

A faint coolness could be felt in the air. Even Lori registered it, and smiled as a thin, verdant barrier shimmered into existence. "I did what I felt was necessary. Even if we chase them away now, they'll come back, better equipped and in larger numbers."

They all took a moment to look at her, gasping as they caught sight of the changes her body had taken on. Grillby seemed more taken aback than the others. She shook her head and gestured towards the group on the other side of the barrier. "Sans, would you mind judging them?"

He stared in their direction for several long moments before speaking. "they're all between three and seven. that one in the middle with the big gun is the worst." Lori nodded.

"Fair enough." She slipped through the barrier, and the others called out in alarm. Lori raised a hand, reaching towards the group of younger males, cocking her head to the side as a smirk spread across her face.

They laughed derisively, taking aim. "Get back where you belong, stupid monster bitch. I don't know what's going on with that green shit, but that doesn't mean I can't shoot you dead here and now."

Lori rolled her eyes and lowered her arm. "I would certainly like to see you try to shoot me. You don't have _that_ much LV. I bet you don't even have the guts to try."

The 'leader" scoffed, and squeezed the trigger on his gun several times, but nothing happened. He looked up to see that Lori's smirk had only grown. "Problem?" She began to examine her fingertips, running a nail under one of the nails on her opposite hand to remove some dirt.

"What the hell did you do to my gun?!"

"I super-cooled the air in the firing chamber, condensing the moisture in the air into a block of ice." She held up her hand as glowing blue ice formed into claws at her fingertips, fighting with the flame for dominance of the area. "Would you like a more personal demonstration?"

He scoffed and lowered his gun, gesturing for the others to pack up as well. They got into their truck, and backed onto the road from where they had parked. The 'leader' stuck his head out the window, making a rude gesture towards her as he declared that he and 'his boys' would be back. Lori sighed wearily as she let the ice fall from her fingertips and melt, letting the flames take the area back over. Retreating back behind the barrier once the humans were out of view, Lori slumped against a wall, her breathing uneven as her exertion in her weakened state started taking its toll.

"lore?"

"I'm...I...feel like…"

She sank to her knees and fell forward to the ground, losing her grip on the waking world.

0-0-0-0-0

She came to on a hard surface, lying prone with several small things stuck to her body in various places. Sitting up gently, she took stock of the situation. Leads were placed all over her naked body, ash littered the examination table that was seemingly flame-retardant. The bright examination light stung her retinas painfully, forcing her to close her eyes before she figured out much past that. She felt around her body and carefully disconnected every lead she found, sighing in annoyance as various monitors began beeping horrendously as she fiddled with the leads.

She heard the low swearing of Sans and a few others, and felt their worry as they scrambled to get to her side, seemingly expecting that her soul was breaking or something similar. There were gasps as the group rounded the corner, and she sighed softly. "Someone wanna help me out, here? Something is up with my eyes."

She felt a clawed finger move her hand away from a particularly stubborn lead so that it could be removed by Alphys, or so Lori assumed. "Y-your eyes are p-perfectly f-fine, Lori. Y-you just n-need to g-give yourself time to a-adjust. They s-started taking in m-more light than you're u-used to."

She felt something being placed over her head, and the smell of frozen pines with a hint of tomatoes enveloped her. "Thanks Alphy, Vertibae." She squeaked in alarm as she was lifted off the table and carried to a different room. The lights were dimmer here, and Lori cracked her eyes open, squinting out from the depths of Sans' hood. He sat down on one of the couches in Alphys and Undyne's living room, and pulled her close.

Alphys cleared her throat. "L-Lori...since i-it's not so u-urgent anymore...c-could we-"

Lori held up a hand, stopping Alphys. "Have my chest and my grimoire been brought somewhere safer than the parking lot?" There were various nods and affirmative answers. "Thank you. Where is my shard?"

"paps is still guarding it, like you asked."

"Is he still within the barrier?"

She could feel the fear spike at the mention of that word, and grimaced. "It isn't like the barrier you're all used to. It deters those with ill will towards monsters from entering, but it doesn't seal anyone in or out. This barrier is only a projection, not an actual structure." Lori grimaced. "I can explain everything. But it involves a bit...a bit of a history lesson, and my grimoires. It's probably something that the whole crew should know...so we should maybe have a meeting."

The rest consented hesitantly, and texts sent, phone calls made. Lori waited to start her explanation until everyone had arrived, clinging tightly to her grimoire, which Sans had been kind enough to get for her.

It took some time, but everyone arrived. The room was packed, and Lori heaved a tired sigh. "Right. If I'm going to explain myself, I have to tell you about my family, and one of the more important traditions my family has had for...centuries." She fondly stroked the cover of the book resting on her lap.

"This is a grimoire, a record of every spell made or used by a witch or...whatever word you prefer for a male witch. It differs from person to person. I prefer Warlock. Every magical event they experienced. Even major historical points. It's all in their grimoire. It is a record of their life. And my family has passed down grimoires from parent to child, ensuring that all of that magic, all of that history, is preserved for as long as my family is preserved.

"There are countless years of history in the fireproof safe in my den. Tens of volumes. But this specific one," she gestured to the book still on her lap, "was the first, started by my ancestor in a time of major change. While this is not the original copy, the contents are still the same, copied down diligently by hand about a century and a half ago by the member of my family that possessed it at the time. They have been diligently copied and translated over time, ensuring that this knowledge would not be lost. It is a record of their achievements...and their _sins._ "

Soft mutterings filled the room as she paused, unsure of how best to continue. She sighed and shifted uncomfortably in her seat before continuing quietly, her voice tinged with shame and regret.

"This specific one details within its first pages perhaps one of the worst conflicts in recorded history, and it has only recently become public again; it details the War of Humans and Monsters. From the human's side of things." Astonished gasps filled the room, and Lori shrunk into the chair where she sat, her embarrassment and self-loathing making her throat feel tight. "Please, let me finish. There's more.

"When I was a child, only three years old, my grandda told me a story, the story of the arrachtaigh and the daoine. He told me of how the arrachtaigh were chased across the globe, pushed down, and sealed beneath the ground by the daoine, who had been driven by hate and fear and greed. He explained that when the arrachtaigh were pushed down, that they had been killed. And he explained that the daoine had sacrificed the souls of seven of their own to create a barrier sealing the only way into the heart of the mountain...which was also the only way out.

"What was more disturbing was the part about how the daoine had _captured_ a small number of the arrachtaigh, experimenting on their souls and stealing their magic. My mother called the story 'nightmare fuel', and refused to believe that the story was true, regardless of how often my grandda insisted it was true. He had told her the story when _she_ was a child, and she had't believed it then, either. But I had believed it from the start."

She glanced around the room at the shocked and betrayed looks of those around her, frowning at the flurry of emotions that came with them. She could practically _feel_ her soul dimming in response.

"I was a child. 'Arrachtaigh' and 'daoine' were just words to me. It wasn't until I was older that I figured out that those words hadn't been nonsense; they were gaelic. And once my grandda passed and I became the owner of the grimoires, I found out why he had chosen to call the two groups 'monsters' and 'humans'. Because that is exactly whom he had been speaking about for all those years.

"So much more made sense once I actually _read_ the record I have on the War. My grandda's pyrokinesis wasn't actually his own. It was what was left of a captured fire elemental that had been experimented on. Their soul had been imprisoned by a process similar to that which I used earlier...and one of the sages that created the barrier became the next step in that experiment, having the crystallized monster soul, once...once the personality and memories had been stripped, leaving only the raw magic...fused to his own." She swallowed hard, the tears at the corners of her eyes glowing gently.

"The mix wasn't perfect...it was like trying to mix oil and water; no matter how hard you try to ensure a proper blend, the two always force each other apart. But the fusion was more complete when the sage's soul was taken, and subjected to the same process. The various leaders that had drawn these sages together from across the world were just as wary and hateful of human magic as they were of monster magic...if not moreso. Humans were harder to kill, after all, though their magic was vastly different from that of monsters.

"Where monsters could use magic to attack, heal, weaken enemies, or strengthen themselves, they had no true way to defend themselves. Where once humans had worked with monsters, defending them with barriers and warding and foreknowledge while the monsters used their magic to fight for the both of them...they had grown apart. Unions between the two races had to hide their true nature, or be destroyed.

"But...together, their magic was undoubtedly stronger. And so the sages resolved to create a seal on the mountain that would last for all time, protecting humans from monsters...but also protecting the monsters from the humans that had driven them to that point, and that were turning on humans with magic just as easily as they had turned on monsters."

Grillby crackled softly in the corner, staring into the depths of his glass. "What was the elemental's name? Do you know?"

Lori paused before flicking through the pages of the grimoire on her lap. "Uhm...actually, it does say, since my ancestor actually got to talk with her some. It may be a poor translation...but it says here that she said her name was Kaylen."

The glass in his hand shattered as he crackled in rage and sorrow. Lori winced, and she slowly and quietly shut the cover. "I'm sorry." He stood quietly, and left the apartment.

Lori stared at the floor quietly. "'Everyone is a story in the end.' My grandda always used to tell me that, and I never took it as literal as I needed to until Frisk managed to free you all. Myths, legends, and the like...all based on the truth." She shook her head sadly. "I understand completely if this revelation has totally destroyed my standing with all of you. I had not intended to keep this in the dark forever...merely wait until the time was better to be able to explain in full. That obviously didn't go quite as I had hoped."

She sighed and curled into the chair, speaking softly out of Sans' hoodie as her tears betrayed her with their glowing, making her pain obvious.

"Even if I've destroyed every relationship I have in this room, friendship or otherwise, full access to the information hoarded over the generations about history, human souls and the like is available to anyone in the community that asks, provided that my books are taken proper care of."

"what about sascha?"

Lori glanced over at Sans, sitting quietly with his arms crossed, seemingly uncomfortable in just his white tee and shorts without his signature jacket. "What?"

"sascha and vilkas. their family. according to what you said, that's monster magic."

Lori nodded. "Their family and mine have been...well, not necessarily friends, but at least _allies_ for hundreds of years. Originally, they were half-breeds that had fled from the War and tried to survive off of nature, or to blend in with the crowd. It didn't work so well, generally, and that's part of how the tales of werewolves and lycanthropy started. One of my family ran across one of theirs, injured, caught in a hunter's snare. They released their ancestor from the snare, and took them home to nurse their wounds. It was there that sascha and vilkas' ancestor realized that mine had magic as well, though it was far different from theirs. It marked the start of an alliance between our two families, each looking out for the other, helping where they could.

"When Sascha's family heard about the opportunities in this region, they immigrated. My family soon followed. Eventually, a the community that you were introduced to sprung up, meeting covertly, practicing in secret, afraid of the consequences if their taboo secret was revealed. While their magic diluted over time, weakened, my family's remained fairly strong, though the abilities tended to change around a bit. Vilkas is a throwback; his magic is stronger than any in his family that still live, but he has troubles controlling it. They happen to be the same as the troubles recorded multiple generations ago, when our families first met." Sans nodded quietly.

Lori shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "When my grandda was young, he liked to search the area for the seal. He knew that it was in this area, based on the descriptions recorded in the grimoire I have here. He never managed to find the right section of Mt Ebott when he checked there. He would've practically crapped himself when it turned out that the seal was actually there and that someone managed to break it in his lifetime."

Toriel stood, and gingerly took Lori's still-injured hand in both of hers, silently applying a warming green magic to the slice across her palm. "You couldn't help what your ancestors did, my child. And in part, it had been to save the last of monsterkind from the humans. Even if that wasn't the case, that is what you are doing now; helping monsterkind. At this point, I think you may have even left the title of 'human' behind. Your soul is more monster than human. And you are still a part of this community, just as much as Chara and Asriel are still parts of this community."

Lori jolted forward, swearing softly. "Thinking of, where is Chara? I had gotten so caught up with everything else..."

Frisk scooted off the loveseat and walked over to Lori. Lifting their sweater, the small, fragmented red heart drifted into Lori's outstretched hands. "I'm sorry I didn't explain everything to you before I sent you away. I'm sure you were worried, but at least Frisk was managing to keep you somewhat warm while I was away. Tori, is Asriel still at your place?"

Frisk shook their head and darted off into the next room, coming back with the floweypot. "Asriel, would you hold Chara?"

He extended his leaves and took Chara, his eyes filled with awe. Lori quirked her lips as she watched the pair as they faded together, leaving the young prince where the flower once was. Multiple jaws dropped, and Lori was half-certain that she heard Frisk swear quietly. Lori gently pulled at his chest. While it wasn't as large as other souls, and still largely formed of Chara's determination, some of the fragmenting had lessened, and Lori was relieved to see that it looked slightly less crenated than it had.

Nodding in satisfaction, Lori began to explain before anyone interrupted. "Frisk is Chara reincarnated, sure. But there is more than one kind of reincarnation, as far as I have been able to figure out. Chara's tainted determination couldn't be 'recycled' for lack of a better term, but it wasn't their entire soul that was tainted, only part. What was left behind was the taint, which had been split; part remained with Asriel, allowing his 'recreation' as Flowey when enough of a catalyst was present, and part laid dormant, awaking when Frisk's soul came close enough. Frisk's soul fleshed itself out and differentiated itself from Chara's...not enough to make it difficult for Chara to latch onto it, but different enough to disallow immediate fusion like what just happened with Flowey and Chara.

"I'm glad my hypothesis turned out to be correct...though I don't believe that Asriel and Chara will ever be totally normal, and they'll always have to share a body...they're more whole now than they have been in the past. Chara's taint was basically gone, leaving behind just the determination and what little remained of their other traits, the stuff that I was helping to foster while I was helping them resolve their taint. Asriel's taint, as far as I could tell, was at least lessened, if not totally resolved when Frisk helped him out. While we can't afford to not keep an eye on them...they should be fine."

Toriel dropped to her knees tears welling in her eyes as she stretched out her arms to hug her children, glad to have them all safe and sound. Lori gingerly stood, and sat herself next to Sans. Blushing and half-mumbling, she picked at an errant flake of skin left behind from Toriel's healing of her palm. "Hey."

He shrugged. "hey."

"Are...are we ok?"

He pulled her close, surprising her with the strength of his embrace. "'m glad you're ok, lore. was so scared…" He trailed off, and Lori gently began petting his cervical vertebra.

"It's alright, babe. I'm smart, remember? I knew what I was doing." She cleared her throat. "Tori, would you be willing to keep my shard at your place to keep the shielding powered properly?" She mumbled her agreement into her embrace with her children, and Papyrus carefully placed the small green gem in Frisk's outstretched hand.

"Let's go home, Vertibae." Sans nodded, pulled her on to his lap, and pulled them through the Void once more.


	13. The Father of All Surprises

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN UNDERTALE OR PRODUCTS MENTIONED, ETC. I'M NOT SPONSORED OR ANYTHING, SO ON AND SO FORTH.**

 **A/N: BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS STUCK WITH THINGS SO FAR AND LEFT ME YOUR SWEET, DELICIOUS REVIEWS AND FAVORITES AND WHATNOT. I ADMIT THAT LAST CHAPTER WAS A BIT RUSHED FEELING IN SOME PARTS, AND I BELIEVE THAT I HAVE AMELIORATED THAT SOMEWHAT NOW? I FEEL LIKE IT SHOULD BE PRETTY OBVIOUS AT THIS POINT, BUT I'VE BORROWED SOME OF THE GENERAL BACKGROUND BITS AND IDEAS IN THE HANDPLATES AU COMIC BY zarla ON DEVIANTART. I LOVE IT TO BITS AND IT'S WHAT GAVE ME THE KICK IN THE PANTS TO START WRITING THIS FIC TO BEGIN WITH. IF YOU WANT AN AWESOME COMIC, THAT WOULD BE ONE TO CHECK OUT.**

 **NOW, BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING.**

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lori hummed softly as she awoke, Sans' strange, magical warmth seeping into her as he slept, curled around her form. She smiled softly as she watched him sleep, clearly far more at ease now that Toriel had taken back over on parenting Chara, leaving Lori with control of her own body and soul. He was smiling and peaceful, and his nightmares seemed to have mostly abated for the time being.

The past several days had been...almost relaxing. Sans barely left her side, and she was recovering. Her shard was still in Toriel's possession, and her barrier was staying strong. While Lori figured that tensions were still high and the neighborhood was under surveillance by the human supremacists, they hadn't yet come back out of the woodwork. It was, however, only a matter of time.

Her 'little stunt' as Undyne had called it was still taking it's toll. Halving her max HP left her in a near constant state of fatigue. It felt like the days before a case of the flu fully set in. Fatigued and achy, but otherwise alright. Sans and several others had been adamant about making sure she got sufficient magic into her system to help it repair itself, so Lori had been feeling fairly gluttonous since she and Sans had gotten to her place after the meeting. He had made spaghetti, and made sure that she ate as much as she could.

It had taken her somewhat by surprise that he could cook, but she had laughed once she realized that he had started preparing spaghetti. Of course Paps would have rubbed off on his brother eventually. Just like Toriel's magic sweetened her pies and aided in flavoring her other dishes, Lori found that Sans' magic had added a certain...something. She wasn't sure what.

She was dragged out of her reverie when she felt a light tug within her chest. Looking at Sans with curiosity, she noted that he was only vaguely awake. "Morning."

He stretched, wrapping around her more securely, nuzzling into her neck. She smiled as he mumbled next to incoherently into her neck, trying to strike up a conversation while still half-asleep. He managed to clear up his speech after several long moments of trying to speak properly. "i missed the way you smell."

Lori stroked his sternum and jawline gently, pressing her lips gently to his teeth. "If we're waking up, we should make some food." She sniffed at the air. "I think Paps may have beat us to that, though."

They disentangled themselves, and slipped on enough clothes to make themselves decent. Lori was fairly glad that the skelebros _both_ chose to stay with her while she recuperated. If one wasn't there to catch her when a dizzy spell hit her, the other would be. Both looked after her to make sure that she had eaten recently to help her deal with her widely fluctuating magic levels. And Papyrus was almost always up before she and Sans were, making breakfast a non-issue.

Drifting tiredly up the stairs, not wanting to have to deal with the weakness in her knees at the moment, Lori called out to see if Paps had put on coffee yet.

"I WAS IN THE PROCESS OF DOING EXACTLY THAT, HUMAN LORI. I MADE MUFFINS, BACON, AND EGGS." Lori nodded and grabbed a muffin, arching her eyebrow when she took a bite.

"I never taught you how to make bran muffins. This is really good, Papy."

He blushed. "THANK YOU, HUMAN. I FOUND A BOOK OF RECIPES IN YOUR KITCHEN, AND THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE FUN TO TRY SOMETHING NEW ALL ON MY OWN."

She paused, mildly taken aback. "Well damn, Paps. It took me months of trial and error to get Mom's recipe just right before I managed to not get it tasting, looking, and feeling like I was eating a stale dish sponge. Bravo. Did better than I managed to."

His blush deepened as he brought the food to the table, turning to pour Lori a cup of coffee as she sat down at the table, Sans cresting the top of the stairs and following suit immediately after, sliding onto the bench next to Lori. Lori took the mug when it was presented to her, taking a long drink of the dark liquid, finding it to be the perfect temperature and strength. "You're too good to me, Paps. Perfect again."

She rolled her shoulders and sighed, calling forth her green magic and rubbing her knees gently. They had taken quite a bit of damage when she collapsed the other day, one of her kneecaps dislocating on impact, which, as it turned out, was enough to turn both skelebros queasy. Lori had always had some issues with her knees-her joints in general, really, thanks to the span of time her father had had her after her mother had died-but this level of trouble and discomfort was new. She _had_ done some significant damage to herself with her reckless actions...by her reckoning, that was more than likely the reasoning for her new physical complaints.

Papyrus sat down, flexing his right hand with a look of moderate discomfort, rubbing one gloved hand against the back of the other. Lori reached out a finger infused with green magic, and tapped his hand delicately, arching her eyebrow in confusion at what her magic had encountered, making small mutterings of surprise through a full mouth. Swallowing her large mouthful a bit faster than she otherwise should and clearing her throat, she jerked her chin towards his gloved hand. "So what's with the plates? Figure it's 'bout time I asked."

Sans and Papyrus spluttered and glanced hastily at one another before trying to stammer out a cohesive answer. Lori rolled her eyes, grabbed Papyrus' gloved hand, and gently slipped off his glove, quietly examining his plate at various angles with an analytical eye. She glanced up to see his cheekbones glowing brighter than she had ever seen them before as he looked away. "If you know how these were put in, I could probably take them out with little to no trouble." Both brothers looked at her like she had grown a second head.

"y-you could?"

Lori nodded and went back to examining Papyrus' hand, trying to get a good look around the screws below the plate. "Vertibae, do you know if you two have some equivalent to osteoclasts and osteoblasts?" He shrugged, and Lori let slip a sigh. "I assume your magic runs through the two of you kind of like marrow?" They both nodded, and she traded her grip on Paps' hand for a grip on her coffee mug as she took a drink.

"So. Either there was no kind of bonding agent in place to prevent slippage of the screws, or...it had to be one that your magic could manage to traverse. Depending on how long ago that was, the adhesive or what have you likely would have deteriorated to be replaced by legitimate bone by now. Do you...roughly know how long it was?" The look on their faces told her all she needed to know.

She quietly finished her coffee, closing her eyes to give them a momentary break from the light. "Would you like me to try? I should do Paps first so I can make sure I know what I'm doing before I tempt fate by technically injuring someone with so little HP. It's just a phillips head...I have a shitload of those around the house."

Paps gave a small squeak of consent and she smiled, glad that she could help the two feel more 'normal'. ' _Gaster fucking owes me._ '

0-0-0-0-0

Lori glanced over her glasses at Sans, who was sitting anxiously in one of the recliners in the room as Papyrus sat on the couch, his right hand outstretched for Lori to be able to more easily access from her place on the floor. She sized up the screws and picked up the appropriately sized screwdriver, frowning softly as she came back to the plate on the back of Paps' hand. "This is probably gonna hurt like a bitch. I'll try to ameliorate what I can."

Lori closed her eyes and focused, her left palm filling with a calm emerald light, her normally blue eyes green when she opened them. Taking Papyrus' hand in her own and making sure that it was encircled by the green glow, she started her work, gritting her teeth in concentration as she slowly unscrewed the first of the four screws holding the steel plate. It came out with minor effort, and orange marrow gently began to leak from the hole. Repeating the process three more times, both brothers still in awe, Lori kept working, faint tears coming to the corners of her eyes.

Setting down the screwdriver and gently lifting off the plate, Lori took stock of the rest of the situation. It seemed that there was no bonding agent of any kind in the holes, so she let the green leave her eyes to strengthen the green in her hand. Only then did Papyrus seem to notice the pain, inhaling sharply for a split second before Lori's magic began to take over and fill the holes with new bone.

Papyrus took his hand to examine it, and Lori leaned back and propped herself up on her elbows. "Whatcha think? I had to redistribute the calcium in your hand, so maybe don't be too rough on that part of your hand for a few days."

"Wowwie...thank you, Lori."

Sans arched a brow bone at her. "so. what were you doing that was messing with you but keepin' paps pain-free till the end?"

Lori shrugged. "Well...I'm missing my shields...so I figured that I should just take his pain instead of sharing it. Easier to do delicate work when it isn't shaking everywhere in pain."

They both gaped at her. "what?"

Lori closed her eyes and leaned the rest of the way back. "I'll be fine in a half hour. I take it that monsters can't do this?"

"the monsters that have a talent for green magic that become doctors have this kind of...analgesic quality to their magic. they can't actually just take it away." Lori shrugged at this info, opening her eyes to look over at Sans.

"Just in case...we should have Tori standing by when we pull yours. Your HP is so low...I don't want to risk it." Sans nodded in agreement, and Lori stretched a hand out towards the dining room. "Muffin." Sans shook his head, grabbing one with his magic and dropping it lazily into her hand. "Thanks, Vertibae."

She sat up and lazily took a bite out of her muffin, grinning softly at Papyrus' expression as he continued to marvel over the back of his hand. Sans grinned over at Paps as well, not noticing as Lori's face screwed up slightly in confusion as she picked up the plate itself. ' _WDG-2 P?_ ' Realization hit her. Gaster had never explicitly explained what he had done to Sans and Paps...but…

It all made sense now.

They weren't really his sons...they were his _experiments._ She closed her eyes softly and sighed. Regardless, they were her family. But Gaster owed her the whole story.

0-0-0-0-0

Lori suffused her shard with part of her magic reserves and handed it back to Frisk. She and the skelebros had come into town to do some shopping, among other things. They had all talked about it, and came to the conclusion that the two practically lived with her these days anyway, so there was no harm in making the move official. The two were busy moving furniture and such into the small moving truck Lori had rented, and Lori stopped a few floors down to check on her shard and the overall durability and possible longevity of her shield. As far as she could tell, so long as she recharged it every few days, it would hold.

She ruffled Frisk's hair and peeked around the doorframe of the front door before stepping out in time to catch the back bumper of Papyrus' bed before it hit the concrete steps. "Careful, Papy." She helped him adjust his load and stood aside so the dresser coming behind him surrounded by blue magic could pass, and Sans immediately behind it. "How much is left?"

"eh, we got it. the landlord is pissed though."

Lori's eyes narrowed. "You let _me_ deal with that scuzzbucket. I can probably shove a tater in his tailpipe right quick."

Sans shrugged and kept about his work as Lori stormed up the stairs, calling for his soon-to-be ex-landlord. He knew Lori had a severe distaste for the man, and that she was smart enough to be able to figure something out. He wasn't about to get in her way. He sat the dresser down and helped Paps shift a few things, cringing at the enraged shout of the man upstairs. Obviously, Lori hadn't held back.

He locked eyelights with Paps and shrugged, letting his good eyelight glow faintly to try to reassure his brother. The gesture was reciprocated, and they sighed in relief when Lori sauntered smugly out of their apartment, their nervous-looking landlord slinking off to his own apartment after she began to descend the stairs.

Lori smirked and handed Sans a check. "Your security deposit, and everyone in the building is liable to be getting some variety of remuneration to compensate for his bullshit. The water and electric bills were both supposed to be included in the rent according to the lease, not just the one. He's been informed that I'm more than happy to call my lawyer and go door to door and collect evidence of his bullshit and file a case. He knows that he would lose, too." Both he and Papyrus stared at her open-mouthed in surprise.

"that why you asked to see the lease and such?" Lori nodded. "huh. thanks, babe."

She shrugged. "No biggie. Least I could do not only for you 'n Paps, but for all my friends in the building."

Sans eyed the contents of the truck and guided one of the wool furniture covers over the wooden dresser and made sure the contents of the truck were all secure. Shrugging, he slipped his hands in his pockets and headed up for another load.

0-0-0-0-0

"This is weird...shouldn't my soul have adjusted by now?"

Lori sat the soul monitor down and shakily grabbed a monster soda from the fridge, cracking the seal and downing half of the bottle of sweet, carbonated liquid in a single go. Turning, she saw Sans' perpetual smile fall into a deeply worried frown as he stared at the readings on the monitor. "yeah, it shoulda. but it isn't. something's wrong with ya, and i dunno what, lore."

She frowned thoughtfully as she took more, slower swallows of her drink, her tremors beginning to abate somewhat. "So...something went wrong during the snap to full fusion-which I hadn't been expecting, mind you-and basically gave me...iunno...monster diabetes? Since I can manage this with diet, that's the only thing I can really think to compare it to."

Sans shrugged. "dunno. from what i've read, this isn't quite the same though. the magic gets processed okay...it's just that there's some kind of stress on your system that is requiring magic to keep in balance."

Lori nodded slowly. "So in order to maintain homeostasis due to the problem, my soul has to basically work overtime and use more magic?" Sans shrugged noncommittally. "Well, you're helpful. Is there anyone in the monster community that might be able to run some diagnostics to try to see where the problem is?"

Another shrug. "alphys is the only real scientist around that might be able to get a clue. monster doctors are few and far between, and would be outta their depth."

Taking another drink, Lori frowned. "Alphy has told me in the past that she was out of _her_ depth with me, that soul dynamics was more the previous Royal Scientist's thing." Sans froze, eye sockets widening slightly with fear. "You okay, Vertibae?"

She heard the familiar garbled speech behind her as she watched Sans' magic flare brightly. She turned, and arched an eyebrow.

 ***I REGRET THAT I KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT IS PLACING STRAIN ON YOUR SOUL.**

Sans moved in front of Lori and called on one of his blasters. "wh...how? you died."

Lori cleared her throat. "Who is this, Sans?"

She could feel his rage. "my...father, i guess."

She hesitated. "He's...trying to communicate. I'm not sure if you can see his magic or not."

Sans stiffened, and he glanced to her. "i don't care if he wants to talk or not, lore. he's the one that put these damn plates in my 'n paps' hands." Sans' eyelights faded. " **he's the one that broke my face, and made me lose half of my glow.** "

Lori placed a hesitant hand on Sans' shoulder. "Even so...what if he wants to make amends? He had said something about not knowing what was wrong with me. Offering to help when he knows for a fact what you think about him and where he stands with you was risky...incredibly so.

"I'm not saying that you should forget the past, or trust him right off the bat...I'm just saying that maybe you should give him a chance. We're going to need as many brilliant minds as we can get to try to figure out what's wrong with me. As questionable as his morals might be...you can't deny his intelligence."

Sans sighed deeply, banishing his blaster back to the void, letting his magic fade and his eyelights return. "fine. i hope you know what you're doin, lore."

He blinked out of existence and Lori sighed deeply as she turned to Gaster. "You are a sick, twisted individual, and you're lucky that he trusts me so damn much. If he weren't so afraid for me, he wouldn't have listened."

 ***THAT MAY BE SO, LORILAI, BUT YOU HAD MENTIONED NEEDING MY OPINION. WE WILL HAVE TO WORK ON FIGURING OUT WHAT IS WRONG IF WE WANT FOR YOU TO SURVIVE.**

Lori sighed again, gently pinching the fold of skin between her eyebrows in frustration. "Obviously. The way things are going now isn't exactly _sustainable_. I'm not foolish enough to think so." She glared at him. "And you owe both of those boys _far_ more than an apology."

0-0-0-0-0

Sans downed the amber liquid, setting the glass down on the counter with a faint noise. Grillby eyed him and refilled his glass, crackling softly at his old friend. "How is Lorilai?"

Sans scoffed and took another drink. "Been better. Been worse."

"You don't normally come in here for liquor, Sans. What's wrong." Grillby picked up one of the glasses behind the counter and began cleaning it methodically. Sans watched him in silence for several long moments.

"how did you know that kay was your bondmate?"

Grillby's fire popped loudly, and he was forced to set the glass that he was cleaning down in order to lean on the counter, putting his face far closer to his friend's than Sans was comfortable with. "What makes you ask?"

Sans leaned back as far as he possibly could, stopping when he felt the barstool want to tip. "'s no reason...just…" He cringed slightly at Grillby's unwavering, piercing stare. "my father showed up at our place."

Grillby was taken aback, and Sans could tell. "yeah. _that_ father. the one i thought was dead, and did all those things to me 'n paps."

He took another drink from his glass, and chuckled lightly as he watched Grillby pour one for himself before refilling his glass. "she convinced me to not attack him. he just showed up, 'n starts talkin' like everything that happened...didn't. i had my magic ready, my blaster was out…'n she tells me that he might want to 'make amends'. says that as much as i hate him, i can't deny how smart he is...and says that i should give him a chance to make up for everything he did by letting him help figure out what's wrong with her.

"an' i'll be damned if she isn't right. her magic levels are in a near-constant spiral, 'n we dunno why. there's somethin' going wrong with her that's puttin' a drain on her magic...and we dunno what, or how to fix it. an' she's right. as much as i hate that bastard, he's smart. Sometimes _too_ smart. i love her more than i hate him."

Grillby sighed, a sound that most resembled the hiss of a water drop thrown on a fire. "That's how, old friend. When she means that much to you. I remember how you were when she took the adopted royal child from Frisk. That's how you know."

Sans hesitated, a blue tinge coming to his cheekbones as he spoke quietly. "what if she doesn't feel the same?"

Grillby chuckled softly. "You won't know unless you talk to her. Go home, old friend. I still need to clean up here so I can do the same."

Sans shrugged lazily, set his empty glass on the counter, and blinked out of existence. Grillby finished his own drink, and went back to cleaning the glasses.

0-0-0-0-0

Sans popped into existence in the driveway just before the parking area and slipped his hands into his pockets as he began to walk the rest of the way into the house. As he rounded the bend and the parking area came into view, he hesitated. There was a vehicle that he didn't recognize parked outside the garage. The impala, his bike, and Paps' car were all in the garage unless Lore and Paps had gone out.

He pulled out his phone to text Lori and his brother, and swore softly as he noticed the message notifications on his inbox from where he had turned his phone to silent at Grillby's. He opened his messages, skimming them as he continued his walk towards the house.

[lore: Not sure where you headed off to in such a hurry, but you forgot your keys. I hope you're ok.]

[lore: Grillbs says that you're at his place? Be safe coming home, pookie.]

[lore: Isn't it past Grillbs' closing time? Hope you're not causing him too much grief.]

[lore: I love you. Back door is unlocked for whenever you go to come home. Be safe.]

He frowned softly, and checked the more recent message from his brother.

[paps: BROTHER, HUMAN LORI'S FATHER HAS ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE, AND WOULD APPEAR TO BE IN SOME NEED OF MEDICAL ASSISTANCE. I BELIEVE THAT LORI IS GOING TO HEAL HIM, BUT SHE IS YELLING A FAIR FEW OBSCENITIES AT HIM CURRENTLY. DO NOT WORRY, HOWEVER! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL KEEP HER SAFE FROM HARM.]

He could feel his soul tighten with fear. Lori hadn't gone into much detail about what he had done to her after her mother's death, but he knew that her father had used to beat the both of them. While he wasn't too worried about how she and Paps would hold up to someone's fists, especially an injured someone, he knew how fond humans were of their guns.

He ran as quickly as he could to the back gate and hastily input the code to open the lock, throwing the gate open and running to the sliding door off the patio. He slid the back door open quietly, and crept into the house, hoping to catch them by surprise if they were mid-FIGHT.

Much to his surprise, they weren't.

Lori and Papyrus were curled up on the loveseat, mugs of tea in hand as they warily watched the older human male across the room as he held a large steak to the left half of his face. "We're in here, Vertibae."

Sans closed and locked the back door a little less quietly than he had opened them, figuring that he would go out in a bit to close the gate. Walking into the living room, he assessed the situation.

If looks could kill, Lori would have murdered her father by now. Papyrus looked generally uncomfortable at the silence, and looked towards Sans, his eyelights glowing softly. Sans returned the gesture for several moments, until Lori's father finally spoke up.

"So I guess you're shacked up with a couple of monsters now? Is the sex good at least?"

Lori gritted her teeth. "That's none of your fucking business, _Dad_. Besides, you're the only whore here. You still haven't told me why you showed up on _my_ property, let alone why you were remarkably fucked up when you got here. So stop trying to change the subject."

Her father's face fell. "I was joking, Lulu. Didn't mean to offend."

Sans cleared his throat gently, and traded places with Papyrus, who started busying himself in the kitchen to try to avoid the conflict. Lori leaned forward and took a long drink of her tea. "You don't get to joke about my life, Damian. You nearly killed me when I was a kid, and then you tried to steal my _entire inheritance_ from me on my 18th birthday, things that you had _no_ right to whatsoever. Besides." She took another drink and smirked cruelly at him. "I'd wager a bet that either _your_ old man is the one that bloodied you up, or that _Emily_ is the one that fucked you up. How close am I?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and turned the steak on his face to put the cooler side on what turned out to be a remarkably swollen injury. Sans almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

"so, uh, lore...why'd you even let him in the house if you hate him this much?"

Lori glanced over at Sans and smiled softly. "Because I wanted to be able to gloat about someone beating him just as badly as he used to beat me."

Her father cringed again, and she scoffed. "I hit the nail on the head, didn't I, you worthless bastard? Who do I have to thank?"

"Em saw ya on TV...saw ya hangin' with a bunch of monsters an' the monster ambassador. Said she always knew you were a freak, but that she never knew you was a monster fucker." He cleared his throat and winced in pain. "I tried to stand up for you, an' she didn't exactly like that. It started small, but…"

Lori sighed. "But things got particularly bad here the past few days or so and you ran?"

He nodded. "She an' my ol' man had been shackin' up for the past year or so...guess it was just a matter of time 'fore they kicked me out."

Lori laughed. Sans wasn't sure if he had ever seen her this jovial before, at least not over someone else's pain. The look in her eyes was just plain _cruel_ when she stopped laughing and looked towards her father. "And so you ran to the only place that you thought you might find some pity? Didn't bother stopping at a hospital to deal with your fractured facial bones, or the broken ribs, or putting your shoulder and fingers back into place? Trying to garner pity from someone who would only show up at your funeral to spit on your corpse and shit on your grave? Smart move, _really._ "

Her father hung his head. "Lulu...I'm sorry about what I did in the past...but I didn't have anywhere else I could turn. I didn't stop at a hospital because I ain't had but enough money to pay for gas to get here. I didn't even eat nothin' just so I could make sure I got here okay. I done ya wrong, I know, and I done yer mom wrong, I admit...but would you at least give me a chance?"

Lori glared. "A chance is what I gave you when I supposedly needed a guardian those last months of being 17. A chance is what I gave you every time I trusted you as a child. What makes now any different?"

He stood and shrugged. "Iunno, kiddo. If ya really would like me to leave, I'll go ahead and drive into town and sleep in the car for...until I can find a job an' a place I guess."

Lori sighed, and Sans could practically see the green in her soul burning a deep emerald. "You'll freeze if you do. It's 'sposed to be in the 20s tonight." She gritted her teeth and bit out her next words as though they were the most unpleasant things she had ever said. "You may sleep in the room you used to sleep in. You will remain in that room unless someone is around to supervise you or you are leaving the house until I say that I feel like I can trust you."

She stood and silently walked across the room, standing as tall as she could, glaring daggers into her father's eyes. "And I swear, on everything _anyone_ has found holy across the ages, that if you hurt _any_ of my friends, _especially_ Sans and Paps...I will kill you **myself** , and feed your body to the hogs down the road. **Do I make myself clear?** "

Her father cleared his throat and hung his head. "Crystalline, ma'am. Would you like me to head to my room now?"

Lori turned on her heel and walked towards the kitchen with her mug, shrugging as she did so. "I thought you said you hadn't eaten anything? You just gonna go to bed without supper?"

He stiffened. "N-no, ma'am?"

Lori rolled her eyes and sighed. "Don't call me 'ma'am'. Or 'Lulu'. You have to earn that one. But I ain't a 'ma'am' just yet."

He nodded, and followed Lori as quickly as his limp would allow. "Alright."

Lori turned quickly and practically shoved her finger into his face as she pointed at him. "And your ass is going to the damn hospital in the mornin'."

Sans peered around the corner and watched as Lori grudgingly made her father a sandwich, placing it in the less-bruised of his two hands. He wasn't totally sure why she was letting her father stay, at least for the night, but he knew that this would make for as much of an interesting development as Gaster would.


	14. Knowing Right from Wrong

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN UNDERTALE, ETC., AND I'M NOT SPONSORED OR ANYTHING, SO ON, SO FORTH, AND WHATNOT.**

 **AS I EDITED TO SAY LAST CHAPTER, I BELIEVE THAT I HAVE AT LEAST SOMEWHAT RECTIFIED THE RUSHED FEELING AT THE END OF CHAPTER ELEVEN (TWELVE ACCORDING TO THE SITE). I HAVE ALSO STARTED A TUMBLR BLOG TO POST WIPS OF ART, FINISHED ART, TALK WITH YOU GUYS, UPDATE IN CASE OF DELAYED STORY OR WHAT HAVE YOU AND SUCH. URL IS silvercrimsonthorn AT TUMBLR IF IT INTERESTS YOU GUYS.**

 **THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE THAT HAS READ, REVIEWED, FAVORITED, ETC SO FAR. I HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING EVERYTHING SO FAR.**

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Lori groaned in exasperation as she opened the front door, only to let in part of the two feet of snow that had accumulated overnight. Waving her hand over the spillage, she evaporated the snow in short order before closing the door. "Looks like Paps wasn't kidding about the snow, guys! If we're still watching Frisk and Asra tonight, Sans should go pick them up instead of letting Tori drive out here in this shit!"

She heard a clatter in the kitchen and jogged up the stairs, arching an eyebrow at her father, finding him practically climbing on the counters to reach something on one of the higher shelves. "You're where I got my short genes, and you _genuinely_ think you're gonna reach something on the top shelf when you mock _me_ about _my_ height as often as you do? Ya coulda asked Paps when he gets back in, ya know."

Her father shrugged sheepishly in response and slid down off the counter, and Lori turned to find Sans zipping up his jacket and slipping on his boots. She grabbed his scarf and gently wrapped it around his neck, pulling him close and planting a kiss on his frontal bones after making sure his scarf was secure. "Headed to get Frisk and the two-for-one special?" He nodded.

"Stay safe, alright?" He offered her a lopsided grin and a shrug before blinking out of existence. Lori turned and drifted quietly into the kitchen and began filling the kettle to put it on the stove. It was cold enough outside that she was certain that the kids would be asking for some cocoa or some tea, and if Frisk and Asra were having a mug, Papyrus would certainly want one as well. She had to admit, a warm drink when the weather was so cold didn't sound bad at all.

"Hey, uh...Lu…"

Lori turned to her father and arched a brow at him. "Yes?" She glanced at the bowl in his hands and sighed, smiling softly. "What's that?"

He shrugged sheepishly, refusing to look her in the eyes. "Was makin' some meatballs to put in the crockpot for supper, but I know y'all need to eat magic food...could I get you to magic this for me or however y'all do it?"

Lori rolled her eyes and pulled a brightly coloured box out of the cabinet next to the fridge, and offered it to him silently. Once he had taken it and stared at it in confusion for several long moments she explained it calmly.

"Temmie Flakes. One cup per pound of food. That bowl is about...three and a half pounds? So subtract that since you can't tare the scale. Magic it yourself." She turned to deal with the kettle and hummed softly, voicing her afterthought. "Also, you might want to add some extra fiber to your diet since you're going to be eating flake-food. Tends to back up the pipes, if ya know what I mean."

He nodded and began weighing his mixture. "Right...duly noted." Lori watched as he noticeably flinched at the sudden shrieks of glee that came from the newly arrived children before tossing the prepared amounts of loose leaf oolong into the mugs and filling them with the hot water from the kettle. Picking up the bottle of honey and wrinkling her nose, she focused on the sweet contents, exciting the particles to make the thick, sticky substance pour more easily before tipping the bottle and letting the contents ooze into the "cool dude" mug on the counter.

As if on cue, the back door slid open, and Lori couldn't help but giggle at the taller of the two skelebros, trying to deal with snow caked in his boots and around his shins. She grabbed his mug and strained the tea bag, bringing it over to him as she told him to sit before calling for the children to go get their mugs. He did so, and she began the process of evaporating the snow clinging to him.

"Best part about this is the fact that we no longer need a humidifier, I think." She gently checked to make sure that no snow or ice had lodged itself under his patellae before continuing to go over sections and make sure that the spaces between his tibiae and fibulae were free of snow.

"I know, I know-" She cleared her throat, protracting her jaw slightly as she prepared herself for her impression, raising her index finger on her spare hand and wiggling it about as she spoke. "BUT HUMAN! WHY IS IT THAT YOU WOULD NEED TO MAKE YOUR HOUSE HUMID? DO YOU NOT WHINE THAT IT IS HUMID DURING THE SUMMERTIME?" She coughed gently and rubbed her throat with her free hand at the strain of mimicking Papyrus's voice. "I know. I know. I bitch about the weather year round though provided that it isn't one of the weird instances where I find myself inexplicably, _shockingly_ , comfortable. But humidity in the winter is important for humans. We have little membranes in our noses that crack and bleed when they get too dry. And when we're inhaling dry air all the time, they dry out, and we get pretty frequent nosebleeds. Not really a big deal, but super annoying. I'll still probably cook up some potpourri to make things smell nice an' such."

Papyrus raised a brow bone at her. "THANK YOU FOR THE PREEMPTIVE EXPLANATION, HUMAN LORI, BUT I BELIEVE THAT YOUR PAPYRUS VOICE COULD USE SOME WORK! NYEH HEH HEH!"

Lori rolled her eyes and stood, having cleaned Papyrus off as best as she could. "Thanks for shoveling the first bit of the driveway, Paps." She turned and caught Sans in an embrace as he was walking out of the kitchen, pressing her lips to the side of his skull and giggling has his cheekbones flushed bright blue. "And thank you too, o _magnificent_ Sans, for fetching the children. It's nice that Tori and Fluffybuns managed to make the best out of a bad situation and turn their broken furnace into a date weekend. Right before Christmas, too."

"'magnificent sans', huh? has a ring to it." He tried to strike a heroic pose, and Lori and Papyrus both had to stifle their laughter. Lori nipped and kissed at his jawline, gently running a fingertip along the edge of his foramen magnum, giggling when he lost his composure as a pronounced shiver ran down his spine.

"You're magnificent even without the posing, dearest. Don't have to...capitalize...on ideas when they're against your nature. Kinda like Paps isn't a lowercaser, you're not an uppercaser. Stick to tutoyer if you're not comfortable with vousvoyer, and vice versa. Or, well, in capitalization sense, at any rate."

Both brothers stared at her silently for several long moments before Sans spoke up. "You wanna run that by me again just in _case_?"

"Maybe, but we might want to _shift_ gears so we don't aggravate Paps...again." Papyrus groaned.

"REALLY, YOU TWO. MUST YOU BADGER ME WITH THESE _INCESSANT_ PUNS?"

Lori paused, pulled out her phone, and started typing furiously for several moments before putting her phone away. She shrugged, walked to the living room, and began browsing Netflix, a sly smirk plastered on her features as Papyrus's phone chimed.

A catchy, rhythmic tune blared loudly out of the speakers of his phone, and his skull tilted to the side in confusion. "HUMAN? WHY HAVE YOU SENT ME THIS STRANGE MUSIC VIDEO? I will admit that the tune is quite catchy...BUT WHY HAVE YOU DECIDED TO SHOW ME THIS…'BADGER SONG'?"

Sans howled with laughter as Lori's smirk widened. "I didn't want to keep badgering you myself, bro, so I figured I would let technology do it for me. It's catchy enough that it was one of the more prevalent memes of the late 200Xs."

Papyrus hesitated momentarily before putting his phone back to sleep, letting his long legs carry him quickly into the living room, and scooping Lori up into a tight hug. She flailed meekly to try to get him to release, sparking Sans' laughter again. He patted his brother on the arm and informed him breathlessly that he was pretty sure that he was the only one in the house that was supposed to be able to go blue in the face.

Papyrus squeaked in alarm and sat Lori down gently, blushing as she inhaled deeply now that she had the option. "What's the bone-crushing occasion?"

Papyrus sniffled and smiled brightly, his voice betraying the tears that threatened to show themselves. "I AM HONOURED THAT YOU THINK OF ME AS A BROTHER, HUMAN LORI."

She blushed brightly and gently scratched the nape of her neck in embarrassment. "Why wouldn't I, dude? I mean...like...ya know?"

Sans grinned at the adorable scene before him, jumping slightly when a light pull behind his sternum caught him unawares. There was no FIGHT...so why did his soul want to reveal itself?

0-0-0-0-0

Sans sat down on the bed he shared with Lori quietly, listening to her half-sing happily as she showered in their private bathroom. Leaning back to lay on top of the comforters with his legs dangling over the edge, he sighed and called forth his soul. The small silver heart-shape hovered above his chest patiently as he examined it, from the splotches near the left lobe at the bottom to the wide array of dark, lightless cracks that were scattered across the top right side of the point, and the other various little splotches and marks. Even damaged as it was, her soul was far more beautiful than his. How could he possibly offer this to her, when it paled in comparison.

She insisted that his aura was a cyan one, one of patience. But he couldn't see that. Just the dull silver of a damaged soul with EXP and LOVE. Not something anyone would ever want to bond to.

He had never let her see his soul before, and he was hesitant to _ever_ let her see it. What if she rejected him when she saw it? Everything he was, everything he had done and had been, and everything he _could_ be, laid bare. He could feel his sins crawling on his back. It was why he was so good at making others feel the same.

The squeaking of the knobs in the shower alerted him to Lori's impending return, and his soul retreated back behind his sternum with extreme haste. He sat up and did his best to put his negative thoughts aside as he saw her step out of the shower and put her hair in a towel, using another to dry her body off quickly.

Walking out of the bathroom quickly after hanging the towel used to dry her body, Lori plopped down on their bed and took his hand in her own. "What's wrong?"

He averted his eyelights and mumbled denials under his breath and she shook her head. "I know something is wrong. I stopped my little half-singing thing that I end up doing when I felt your emotions take that sharp downturn, and you were preoccupied enough to not notice. You wanna talk about it?" He sighed and laid back on the covers, remaining silent.

Lori frowned and pulled her legs up under herself, balancing in a lotus position for a moment before turning her body to face Sans. "C'mere, Vertibae." He sighed again and shifted, resting his skull in the cradle of her lap where she gently and slowly began to rub his temples, her fingertips lit with a faint green glow. "If you would really rather I not pry, I won't. But that doesn't mean I can't try to make you feel better and take your mind off things."

He sighed again and a faint smile played across his features. "thanks, lore. you're too good to me."

She shook her head, gently this time as to not disturb her towel. "No such thing as being too good to someone you love. You're you, and that's reason enough for me."

He sat up abruptly, startling her. "that's just it, lore. i'm me." The tears were coming hard and fast now, and Lori's hand drifted to her mouth in shock at his sudden outpour of emotion. "i'm me, and that's not good enough for you. you're too good, too bright, too loving...you don't need someone like me."

Lori pulled him close and held him tightly, not wanting him to slip into the Void to try to escape whatever conflict was about to happen, whether it was with her...or with himself. She let her eyes glow brighter than they otherwise would, having seen Papyrus calm his brother this way before. Pulling the towel off of her hair, she found a dry section and carefully blotted his tears. "I don't understand. Is this what had you so upset when I was in the shower?"

Sniffling and a tight, clinging embrace were her only answers, and she smiled sadly. "What makes you think you aren't good enough? For starters, I'm pansexual. The heart wants what the heart wants. And my heart wants you."

His grip tightened, but he gave no response. She traced the sutures of his skull with a feathery touch and smiled softly as his good eyelight glowed in response to hers, his tears lessening in intensity as several long moments passed like that. She could feel his fear and trepidation, the faint hum in his bones that she had grown accustomed to arrhythmic, almost as though he was trembling. The faint glow of his soul that could be seen through his shirt was dimmer than she was used to seeing...and dimmer than she would like. "What's dimmed your soul, love?"

He pulled away and sighed, and she could feel the spike in his shame, his soul dimming further. "Wrong question to ask?"

"when...when gaster…" He sighed, and Lori placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. "when gaster had paps n me when we were kids, we weren't his children. we were his experiments. he created us artificially, kept us in sealed rooms that were just a step above cages...did horrible things to us…" He trailed off and looked at her sadly. "he broke my face trying to figure out how to fix his own eye, then nearly killed me when he destroyed the right half of my face when he was trying to fix my eye. he could've broken paps' eye too. but these plates," he lifted his right hand for emphasis, "were the first step. he put them in to see how we would _react_ , after having been benign for so long."

Lori frowned softly. "I know that it won't change anything...but I'm sorry that all happened to you."

Sans stared at her for a long moment, unsure of what to say. "it's...it's not your fault."

Lori averted her eyes, her voice quiet as she asked, "Why did your shame spur you on to tell me all that?" His brow bones furrowed as he contemplated her words quietly.

"what?"

She shrugged. "Wing Ding Aster. The former royal scientist. And your plates read 'WDG-1 S' and 'WDG-2 P'. It might have been a stretch, but it wasn't _that_ far of a leap."

"you...you **knew**?"

She shrunk away. "I figured most of it out. Like I keep telling you. I'm smart and a bit of a stickler for small details. Tell me _this_ , though...did it change how I felt about you or how I treated you and your brother _at all_?"

He stopped, his mouth hanging open in shock. _It hadn't_.

She frowned. "What's _really_ wrong? You know you can tell me anything."

He sighed. "'m damaged goods, lore. broken and scarred over. You don't need someone like me."

She arched an eyebrow and pulled him close, pressing her lips to his teeth gently. "I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that damaged people are just as lovable as the undamaged ones, sometimes more so." She paused, and guided one of his phalanges over the scar on her stomach. "Plus, this is only the beginning of my damage. And you know that. Being broken only means that you have an interesting history. The japanese sometimes fix their broken pottery with gold. Sometimes the broken things in life can be more beautiful than the non-broken ones. Just like you."

He nuzzled her neck gently, his voice barely above a mumble. "'m yours if ya want me, lore."

She ran her fingertips gently over the ridges of his spine and kissed him gently. "I always will."

0-0-0-0-0

Sans and Alphys bustled about in the lab, hastily speaking back and forth to exchange a flurry of information that Lori only _mostly_ caught. Since the two were still adjusting to seeing Gaster again, Lori was not only their patient and research subject, but their translator as well. Various leads were hooked to her, and her soul was manifest, with a monitor placed directly on it.

While she had to admit that the leads and soul monitor were highly uncomfortable, she was managing to stay fairly well distracted between translating and general conversations with Gaster, and watching Sans flit about the room in a lab coat with glasses on. Even if the glasses had to be taped on, she had to admit that the look suited him well. _Very_ well.

 ***I AM GLAD THAT HE IS ALLOWING ME TO HELP. THOUGH I IMAGINE THAT IT IS LARGELY DUE TO YOUR INFLUENCE. I HAVE SEVERAL IDEAS ABOUT HO-LORILAI, ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION?**

She, in fact, was not. Several moments of observation more than proved that much to Gaster, and he moved to stand between Lori and her view of Sans, who was scribbling down numbers and observations about the readings on the various monitors.

 ***LORILAI, REALLY.**

She coughed slightly and shifted on the exam table. "Sorry about that. You were saying?"

Gaster had become far more humanoid to Lori's eyes as time had gone on, and while his form was nowhere near a perfect reconstruction of what it had once been, it was still more than readily apparent to her that his physical hands had taken positions on his hips as his tone took on a sassy note.

 ***AS I HAD BEEN SAYING, I HAVE SEVERAL HYPOTHESES, AND IF NECESSARY, WE CAN DEVISE MORE.**

Lori peered around Gaster, and sighed softly, holding up her hands and hesitantly beginning to sign.

*You're his father, and probably one of the older monsters around...is it normal that I still have yet to have seen his soul? With mine, it's been pulled out numerous times for observation, examination...but I have had several other monsters that don't know either of us that well thinking that we were already...bonded? That's marriage in the monster world, right?

 ***YES, IT IS. AND I DON'T BELIEVE THAT I AM THE BEST PERSON TO ASK ABOUT THIS KIND OF SUBJECT. PERHAPS THE QUEEN-**

*I am NOT going to one of Sans' two best friends to ask about THIS. Are you crazy?

 ***YOU ASKED THE MAN THAT CREATED HIM WITH THE BONE THAT USED TO BE WHERE ONE OF THE HOLES IN MY HANDS IS. I DO NOT BELIEVE MYSELF TRULY QUALIFIED TO OFFER RELATIONSHIP ADVICE.**

She sighed and nodded softly, feeling defeated. "Yes, of course." Sans caught her attention and asked her several rapid fire questions, nodding, and taking down her answers. Turning to Gaster, he began conferring and sharing current readings, Lori functioning as an intermediary between the two, their conversation cold and analytical, and moderately uncomfortable for Lori as they discussed negative results as though she wasn't sitting right there and acting as Gaster's voice.

' _Fuck, it's going to be a long day._ '

0-0-0-0-0

When his door opened this late at night, he had, in all honesty, been expecting Sans. But there she was, looking tired in more than one sense of the word, nervous, and all around worn-down. She didn't respond to the chorus of greetings as she normally would, she didn't hold her head as high as she normally would...something was wrong with Lorilai.

He prepared her normal drink and set it on the counter in front of her normal stool, watched as she sat down as simply stared at it for several long moments. "Can you maybe put a shot of rum in this for me, Grillbs?"

He stared at her in alarm. He knew that she was old enough, but she never drank, or close enough to it. Something was wrong with Lorilai.

He shrugged and poured the shot and tipped it into her coke and grenadine, watched warily as she stirred it in with her straw and took a long drink. Sighing, she leaned forward on the counter, crossing her arms, and silently laid her head on her forearms. Her eyes were dim as she stared into one of the glasses lined up on the counter, no detectable glow as they shone a deep azure in the ambient light of the bar and Grillby's own fire.

Something was wrong with Lorilai.

"Can we talk? Like...and not have this conversation get to anyone outside of the two of us? I'll teach you how to make cordial and mead if it would be incentive…?" Her voice cracked softly as she spoke, rough as though she had been crying for a good while before getting here.

He shook his head. "No need for incentive. If you're the one in need of an ear instead of Sans, I'll still listen and afford you the same privacy that I afford him. The same as I would for any friend. What's wrong?"

Faint blue streams began to make their way down her face as she took another sip of her drink, taking full advantage of the bendable straw. She was silent for a long while, the only sound really coming from her being the occasional mild sniffle. "Sans is actually the one that I want to talk about."

He picked up one of the dirty glasses behind the counter and began cleaning it as he nodded softly. "What _about_ the bonehead?"

Another long drink as she continued to stare off into space. "Did you know that some portions of the monster community that know of us, but don't know us personally, think that we're bonded?"

 _That_ certainly wasn't what he was expecting her to say. "Can't say that I did. Some reason that you mention it?"

She shook her head and took another long drink. "We've been together for over a year. He's seen my soul time and time again. But I still haven't seen his. He's never brought it out, he's never had his shirt off long enough for me to get even a partial look...He's seen the very essence of my being, and I figured out some of his history on my own before he told me. Yeah, sure...it's more than probably even you know…

"But don't you think that I would've seen his soul by now if he feels open enough to tell me some of his secrets? If we're close enough that people think that we've bonded? If bonding really is marriage, if not _more_ impressive and close, don't you think that I would've at least seen a glimpse? I've seen _basically_ everyone else's...but not his."

She sniffled and took another drink. "I sleep in the nude, I bare my heart and soul to him on a regular basis…" She sighed deeply and sat up, turning to face Grillby tearily. "He's my world, Grillbs. I get that earlier he was trying to keep a cool and level head, an analytical brain...but…"

"Have you tried telling him this?"

She scoffed. "He's terrified for my life right now. He doesn't need to be terrified that his relationship is crumbling too. That's what he would jump to, you know him."

Grillby shrugged. "But isn't it?"

Lori glared, her eyes flaring brightly despite the tears. "Like _hell_ it is. I'm frustrated that he's still so closed off, sure, and it's a little depressing that he still doesn't trust me as much as he could, but I will be _damned_ if I'm letting him go. He means more to me than life itself, Grillby. Don't you _dare_ insinuate otherwise."

0-0-0-0-0

Lori floated quietly down the stairs and to the room she shared with Sans. Finding the door closed and not wanting to disturb the shockingly light sleeper overly much, she phased through the door and drifted to the floor, looking down to ensure that she wasn't about to trip on anything.

"hey."

Her eyes darted upwards and she blushed brightly. "Hi."

"you have fun at grillbs'?"

She shrugged lightly. "Eh, no more so than usual I suppose. We got to talking and lost track of time. Sorry about that."

He shrugged and waited for her to undress before pulling her into bed with his gravity and pressing his teeth to her lips. She giggled softly at the sudden affection and nuzzled his nasal bones with the tip of her nose.

"i missed you."

Another kiss. "I missed you too."

A nip at her neck. "i love you."

She stiffened, and gently pushed back from him. "I love you too. Very dearly. But we need to talk."

 **A/N: SO, LIKE I SAID, THERE IS A** _ **NEW TUMBLR**_ **PAGE FOR THE FIC! WITHIN A FEW MINUTES OF POSTING THIS ON FF DOT NET, I WILL HAVE POSTED A WIP FOR SOME UPCOMING DETAILS IN THE STORY THAT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON FOR A FEW DAYS.**

 **ALSO, IF IT INTERESTS YOU, BASICALLY THE ENTIRETY OF THIS CHAPTER WAS WRITTEN WHILE LISTENING TO NOZOMI(HOPE) BY SLEEP DEALER ON LOOP. IT'S AN AMAZING SONG THAT YOU SHOULD TOTALLY CHECK OUT! LOVE YOU GUYS AND SEE YOU ALL NEXT CHAPTER! CIAO!**


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